Lubricating the fan bearings on a trumatic C6002?

[Em and Tim]

Hi all,

Thanks in advance for any advice. I have searched through here, and I'm sure I read it somewhere once thread, but can't find it again, so thought I would devote a thread title to it.

Does anyone have any advice on how to lubricate the fan bearings on a trumatic C6002, it (the fan, part #5 in the manual) is intermittently making a whining noise, and I would rather see if I can fix it, than go straight onto replacing the fan.

Any other advice or experiences with this problem?

 

[Em and Tim]

Just looking at it now its stationary, the fins of the fans have a layer of dust caking them, how best to clean that off would be worth asking as well? I'm thinking it's going to need stripping down......

 

[Em and Tim]

I'm into this now, with the garage emptied out under a bridge on a French river bank, so I'm just going to document what I'm doing, so I can be told where I went wrong, or so others can learn from my experience.

Taken four plastic nuts off from round the top (watch out for the red rubber washers), and removed the top cover and fan, disconnect wires and remove.

Undo 7 screws (T10 star head)

 

[Em and Tim]

******* read later post ********
Remove cover, and clean fins of the fan (the theory here is that they add to the weight that it is driving and thus the load on the bearings, so may resolve the issue by cleaning) using cotton buds and brush.

 

[Figaro]

Do you have good access to the boiler?
Same boiler as mine but mines in the bottom of the wardrobe.
I've often wondered about routine maintenance ???
But ignored my wonderings due to difficulty in accessing
Watching with interest

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[Em and Tim]

Do you have good access to the boiler?
Same boiler as mine but mines in the bottom of the wardrobe.
I've often wondered about routine maintenance ???
But ignored my wonderings due to difficulty in accessing
Watching with interest

Its in a full garage, but once emptied, has good access, though I had to remove the housing around it (on the far left if the pile of stuff under the bridge.). About half an hour to get to it, I suppose.

 

[Em and Tim]

******
Putting the cover back on is not really possible without putting too much stress on the fan duct. You should strip it down using the two screws accessed from the top under the two plugs, these 'pop'out in stages using a knife/screwdriver.

 

[Em and Tim]

Sprayed bike chain lube on the moving parts (it was that or Wd40), and put back on top of boiler (the plastic nuts are 9mm by the way).
Reconnected wires, crossed my fingers and went into the van and put the heating and kettle on!

 

[Em and Tim]

Final update on this, I hope.
Ran it for am hour, and it was quiter than it had ever been before, with no whining (that's from the boss, not me).
Pre-built box around it and repacked garage. A productive afternoon.

 

[The Dotties]

Well done?

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[Em and Tim]

Just a quick update on this, a week later and all seems yo be good. I did think if was getting noisy again at one point, but it turned out I had turned on the air circulation system (takes air from low and blows it out high) by mistake as the switch is in a stupid place.

I also got the following response from truma, which makes me believe it was more the cleaning than the lubrication (incidentally, an air gun would be a great tool for doing the cleaning):

Thank you for your email, we do not recommend lubricating the circulation fan of the C Heater as it is a sealed unit.

If you require any further assistance do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind Regards
Nicky Price
Customer Services Advisor

 

[jockaneezer]

Why wouldn't you lubricate the bearings if you're already in there ? Seems a bit counter intuitive, mind "sealed unit" just means when one bit fails, you replace the lot

 

[Em and Tim]

Why wouldn't you lubricate the bearings if you're already in there ? Seems a bit counter intuitive, mind "sealed unit" just means when one bit fails, you replace the lot

Aye, to be honest it was hard to see anywhere to lubricate it, just a wee spray on anything that moved near another part. I think when it goes it needs replacing, the the amount if dust that gad cemented itself on the the fan blades was a big surprise, a fairly uniform layer about 2mm thick.

 

[tonyidle]

The bearings in most small motors & certainly in vehicle heating fan motors are porous bronze surrounded (if you're lucky) by felt. For the best results oil that can be absorbed by the bushes (and felt) should be used. Normal engine oil works well.

 

[jockaneezer]

I replaced the "universal motor" induction fan on my 24 year old Vaillant combi boiler last year with a new "sealed unit". The oilite bushes had worn out and allowed the rotor to drag against the stator laminations. If it hadn't been bloody freezing, I would have ordered in some oilite bushes, ground off the retaining rivets and rebuilt it as everything else about it was fine. A £58 unit cost for a 50p part replacement.

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[Em and Tim]

I replaced the "universal motor" induction fan on my 24 year old Vaillant combi boiler last year with a new "sealed unit". The oilite bushes had worn out and allowed the rotor to drag against the stator laminations. If it hadn't been bloody freezing, I would have ordered in some oilite bushes, ground off the retaining rivets and rebuilt it as everything else about it was fine. A £58 unit cost for a 50p part replacement.

I'll bear that in mind next time I have a problem with it. How would you know what exact bushes you needed before you started?/where would you get the bushes from? (A link would be useful).

I have read on here about the fan burning out and causing the electronic control panel to fail, which would be my concern of doing just the worn bushes and getting it wrong, but it would be worth having a look at if the parts are that cheap.

 

[Figaro]

Em and Tim
Well done on the fix.
Is there a filter on the air intake before the fan ?
Sounds like it could do with one.

 

[Em and Tim]

Em and Tim
Well done on the fix.
Is there a filter on the air intake before the fan ?
Sounds like it could do with one.

No, but one would be a good idea. Having said that, tye MH is 16 years old, so I expect it is a build up over that period.

 

[Figaro]

Mines the same age !
I might make it my spring project to dismantle the wardrobe to get to the Truma and give it a preventive clean up.

 

[JockandRita]

Nice one Em and Tim, a job well done.

I used to get a wood scorching smell whenever the boiler was on full belt, but it wasn't on the list of recall serial numbers, so on our first trip to the Dusseldorf Show, I arranged for our C6002 to undergo some maintenance by a Truma field engineer. He cleaned the fan with a high powered air line, and replaced the cover with an updated version. There was quite a bit of sawdust in and around the fan area, possibly from the initial interior build.

In June/July this year, I arranged with Truma UK at Derby to overhaul and repair the boiler (now 20 x years old), as it wasn't firing up properly, and local Truma fitters didn't have a clue about working on it.
As well as the ignition probes being completely worn out (worse than those below, but a common problem apparently) ................................

...............the replacement cover I had fitted in Germany had almost completely disintegrated, and the flue pipe had split. At no time did our CO detector which sits above the boiler area, give us any warning, so I have to assume that the products of combustion were sufficiently flued to the outside.

The cost of the overhaul, replacement parts, and labour came to just over £400, but it wasn't a job I could undertake, so had to be done by Truma. The two factory fitters explained that the boiler was now good for another 10 x years or so.

Cheers,

Jock.

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[jockaneezer]

Em and Tim, you won't know what size bearings you'll need till you get the fan out and measure them good news is, there are plenty listed on eBay if you just search "oilite bush"
This pic is of the fan I took off my combi boiler, you can see on the right hand end of the shaft where the worn bearing had been running and the rub marks on the rotor that was causing the problem.
I removed the stator windings and the outboard bearing as I used the field windings and laminations to make a demagnitiser for my workshop tools.