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I'm having trouble thinking of how else to describe the sound that our pellet stove is making. It is a piercingly high pitched sound that appears to come from the blower.

Here's a video with plenty of awful audio (in the video I'm poking around the back of the stove, not around the blower on the far side).

Here's some more hints concerning this sound:

  • The sound started this afternoon when we restarted the stove after it had burned out.
  • This has happened once before and continued for a couple days. It went away after I cleaned and vacuumed the stove out. Sadly, that doesn't seem to have fixed the problem this time. It was not clear why the sound went away last time - I never had any kind of 'aha' moment - the sound just went away.
  • For the first 30-90 seconds of running, the stove is quiet and doesn't make this sound.
  • Turning the stove on and off has no effect.
  • It really does seem like the sound is emitting from the blower/fan.
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    Sounds like a bearing failure in the blower or blower motor.
    – Michael Karas ♦
    Commented Feb 18, 2015 at 6:26
  • @MichaelKarasSounds like an answer.
    – bib
    Commented Feb 18, 2015 at 13:37
  • Oil the bearings, I made it several years after mine started squealing, but then I just changed it out in the summer.
    – Ed Beal
    Commented Oct 6, 2018 at 3:15

2 Answers 2

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Fans always have cheap bearings and that is what they sound like when they go.

You probably need to replace the blower.

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  • You can sometimes clean and rejuvenate the bearings by soaking in gasoline or the like, and then injecting fresh grease. Barring that, you can often buy replacement bearings. Since you probably need heat now a blower replacement is your best bet; but if you keep and repair the old blower motor, you'll have a back up for next time.
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Commented Jul 19, 2015 at 17:34
  • It was totally the fan. I discovered that spraying a little WD-40 in there fixed the problem. It wasn't permanent (I had to do it a couple times over the course of the winter), so I expect I'll probably end up replacing the fan eventually. WD-40 was good for locating the problem though.
    – doub1ejack
    Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 13:58
  • I would disagree not all fans have cheep bearings, my pellet stove made it 24 years on the original fan ok 21 when it started making noise and the bearings were ball not oil-lite bushings.
    – Ed Beal
    Commented Oct 6, 2018 at 3:19
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First thing that comes up always is replacement. If you are looking how to repair and do it yourself, read on.

There are plenty of YouTube videos on how to replace, but once you have it out after removing 8 screws there are only two nuts and bolts to remove to take the motor apart.

WARNING: Use your phone to take photos before and as you take it apart. Reference counts when reassembling.

The problem is most likely gummed up bearings. Clean the shaft and the race then put oil on the bearing and reassemble. Mine works like new again, It only cost me two drops of oil and half an hour.

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