Have You Pulled?

Lazarus

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
I replaced my Oil Boiler's Pump last year as the seals were shot. On occasion since then, and increasingly so of late, the Burner Motor that drives it squeals, indicating aged Bearings that might have been contaminated with Kerosene.

New Motor ................ £66

Replacement Bearings ........... £4


No-brainer for a Yorkshireman: Bearings bought.

BUT, I don't have a Bearing Puller and wondered if anyone had any hints and tips for removing and replacing Bearings on a relatively small (70w, 1ph) Motor. The Bearings are about an inch in diameter.

Happy to tackle it, and I do know one should only apply pressure to the inner race, but I'd rather have some destructions before I dive in.
 

Attachments

  • Burner Motor.webp
    Burner Motor.webp
    5.7 KB · Views: 23
  • Bearings.webp
    Bearings.webp
    2.4 KB · Views: 60
First question, are the bearings on the armature or pressed into the casing?

If they're on the armature, you'll need a bearing puller for small motors, no two ways about it, no bearing puller, no bearing removal!!!

If they're pressed into the casing, then they may be more difficult to remove, especially if you can't access them from the opposite side to where they're pressed in...

Second question, have you got any better pics of the insides of the motor? A side-on shot is about as useful as a Hoover Senior, I.E. pretty useless, seeing the actual motor guts makes it easier to see how it's been put together and how it can be pulled apart to replace the bearings... :)

And with regards to fitting bearings, it's tap the inner race for fitting onto the armature, and tap the outer race for pressing into the casing, get them the wrong way round and you break the bearings... :-ohcrap
 
No better pics until I open it up. And I shan't be doing that until we have a dry and warm day (Boiler house is outside).

So I'm not sure yet about the precise construction - OTOH these motors are almost universal for CH Boilers (for Fan) so I rather hoped someone might have done the specific jobbie.

Thanks for the info about armature vs. casing - good advice.

It's years since I last changed a Bearing and that was on the rear wheels of a Montego (Yuk!!). I didn't use a Puller then, but cannot remember what I actually did do. Something rather dodgy, I guess!!

All the Bearing supplier says is that is a straightforward but fiddly task. Helpful ..............
 
Most of the motors I've worked on (not just vacuum cleaners!!) have often had one bearing on the armature, and one on the casing, making it twice as fiddly, and of course, you get motors which have both ball bearing and some with one ball bearing and one Sleeve bearing (these must be Oiled with 3-in-1 or light machine oil, NOT greased!!!), sleeve bearings are great though, keep them properly oiled and they last forever, I've seen 70-odd year old Hoover uprights with their original sleeve bearings fitted!!! :D

The only motor bearing pullers I can find are of course a Kirby bearing puller tool:

ebay Item: 180703270283
(very trustworthy and helpful seller, I've bought from him in the past, very nice guy to deal with!!)

And this thing, which at that price kind of negates the attempts at being Yorkshire cheap:

_http://www.thetoolacademy.com/product_detail.asp?productId=211

But, can't really say for sure what you'll need without seeing how the motor is constructed... :(
 
Looks like an hour spent on ebay is your best bet Gordon ..

You should pick up a bearing puller for around a tenner ..
I know it all adds to the cost of repair ...and goes against the grain for a Yorkshireman ..but still ..
It keeps costs down ..and a useful addition to the toolkit
good luck m8 ..
Getting your hands dirty is the only way to go ..imo ;)
rgds
VS
 
Well my thanks to you both.

I suspect I might be able to borrow a bearing puller, so that may not be a problem for my wallet.

Roller -bearing either end - No sleeves.
 
...apart from the monetary savings ...there is definately a lot of satisfaction to doing these sort of jobs yourself.
My old Eurocombi boiler has gone faulty a total of 3 times in 10 years ..
..and every time ...I repaired it myself ..
A service manual ..and a little logic was all that was needed.
Fault one ..
Faulty thermocouple ..
Quoted around £90 to fix ..
bought replacement on ebay £5
Fitted it in less than 15 minutes ..

Similar situations and wildly inflated prices on the other 2 jobs ..

Air pressure switch .. £15 ...again ...ebay ...

Ignition PCB ....quoted £300 to replace ....used reconditioned pcb £35 from ebay..

But ...I also fixed the old one ...after confirming the fault location ...
Turned out to be a small sealed relay ...
Replacement from RS components ...£2.00

Is it any wonder plumbers live like princes ..
rgds
VS
 
Entirely agree: I fix virtually everything at home/car at rock-bottom cost.

No sucking of teeth and "that's gonna cost you, mate" here.
 
I'm the same, if I can repair it, I will, no point shelling out too much money for something when it's a simple fix... :D

Although usually, I don't touch boilers, that explosion somewhere near manchester or wherever it was last year is enough to show why you shouldn't fiddle with gas appliances if you don't know much about them... :eek:
 
2cvbloke said:
I'm the same, if I can repair it, I will, no point shelling out too much money for something when it's a simple fix... :D

Although usually, I don't touch boilers, that explosion somewhere near manchester or wherever it was last year is enough to show why you shouldn't fiddle with gas appliances if you don't know much about them... :eek:
Click to expand...

Whilst agree with you in principlel m8 ...there are many jobs I honestly believe are 'elitist' ...under ever stricter regulation.
I draw the line at repairing where gas is involved ..ie gas valves and faults within the combustion chamber...but where water is the concern ...or particularly electronics ...that being my field of expertise...I am certainly not going to put my faith in an engineer who can only repair to board level.

Before strict regulation was forced upon us ...I totally re-wired 6 houses for friends and relatives ..
I read and re-read the required regulations current at that time ..
before buying in the neccessary ...and embarking on the projects ..
All were done to regulation requirements ..
All were checked thoroughly before power was applied ..by a 'qualified' electrician ..
All passed with flying colours ..
No corners cut...as these were people I care about.

In a similar fashion and again ..before regs were tightened ...My own central heating system including the boiler was bought and installed by me some 10 years plus ago ..
Once again ..I did my homework ....and once again ...no gas was connected until it had been thoroughly checked by a corgi registered fitter ...and finally commissioned.
Once again ...I honestly believe no corners were cut ..and a better job was done ...because I am the one who has to live with it.
I understand that rules have to be applied ..particularly when ..pardon the expression...'numpties' attempt such a job ..
But many of us amateurs are smart enough ..and more than capable ...but prevented from doing such work..
Most of which is logic ...and common sense ...
It makes my blood boil ..to think we are backed into a corner by rules which go too far.

Incidentally ..I believe the gas explosion you refered to was a job done on site by a 'qualified fitter' .....and there's the joke...

cest la vie
VS
 
Vipersan said:
It makes my blood boil ..to think we are backed into a corner by rules which go too far.

Incidentally ..I believe the gas explosion you refered to was a job done on site by a 'qualified fitter' .....and there's the joke...

cest la vie
VS
Click to expand...

Indeed it is life but these ahem 'qualified' fitters are lethal. My 85 year old mum had a boiler service a short time ago she is on contract £200 a year, the wife and I went last week to do the shopping clean up a bit and wash the kitchen floor. The hot water nearly scolded my wife, my mum said it has been like that since the fitter went to sort it out after mum complained of not enough hot water, the auto distribution valve was on manual override and was pumping the majority of the heat through the hot water system not the central heating system, all because of a failed servo motor on the valve. bleeding cowboys the lot of them.
 
Topper said:
Indeed it is life but these ahem 'qualified' fitters are lethal. My 85 year old mum had a boiler service a short time ago she is on contract £200 a year, the wife and I went last week to do the shopping clean up a bit and wash the kitchen floor. The hot water nearly scolded my wife, my mum said it has been like that since the fitter went to sort it out after mum complained of not enough hot water, the auto distribution valve was on manual override and was pumping the majority of the heat through the hot water system not the central heating system, all because of a failed servo motor on the valve. bleeding cowboys the lot of them.
Click to expand...

Not a lot I can say there m8 ..
Bluddy Typical imo ...
If _you_ had done that job ...you'd have checked and double checked to make sure it was right ..and non of your loved ones could come to harm ..
ie OVERKILL ...erring on the side of caution.
To these so called 'experts' ...its all about getting the maximum number of jobs done ..and the maximum into thier koffers..
They have a license to print money ...and their so called qualification guarantees it.
Glad no one got hurt in this case Topper..
rgds
VS
 
@ 2CV: Agreed - but Oil is really very safe and entirely benign. Keeping smelly spills under control is the hardest bit.









I suppose I could wear bicycle clips.
 
You're all quite right.

Last "service" was abit of a call out as well. To cut to to the quick, the extractor fan wasn't extracting enough for the diff pressure switch to give the thumbs up to light up.

So new fan needed @ a cost 0f 130 plus fitting and service, so paid up and that was that.

Last year [four years on] re-found the bust fan in the garage during a clean out, the one that cost me £££, and was going to throw it out when eagle eyes here said "wait a minute".
Slight fetteling later Hmm this is spinning quite well now, HMMMMMMMM wired it up with twa croc clips and held it on the ground wi ma foot and flicked the mains switch...

...well I've now got a effin spare fan ain't I!!

As for the pressure equaliser in the boiler, the big red thing, do the f******s EVER recharge it by draining it first before reestablishing the 1 bar pressure with the bicycle pump? Do they hell.
 
Tivù said:
@ 2CV: Agreed - but Oil is really very safe and entirely benign. Keeping smelly spills under control is the hardest bit.
Click to expand...

Well, I was just saying that I'd try and fix pretty much anything bar gas appliances... :D
 
Well the Bearings arrived today - just two days after the motor stopped squealing without any intervention. So the task is in abeyance until required beyond doubt (Probably on the coldest day of winter!!).

But, I noticed the boiler had started blowing soot, so I took off the top access plate and it was v.mucky.

Spent a good hour scraping and vacuuming just so I could free the baffles, then took them out and washed them (well, two out of three as the handvac I keep for filthy jobs ran out of charge). Every single slot, hole and cut-out was completely and utterly clogged with ten years worth of detritus. Cannot believe it worked at all as the balance betwen input air and output air was way out.
 
Tivù said:
Well the Bearings arrived today - just two days after the motor stopped squealing without any intervention. So the task is in abeyance until required beyond doubt (Probably on the coldest day of winter!!).
Click to expand...

Better to replace the bearings ASAP, I.E. when you have the tool to pull the old ones off, cos bearings are notorious for seizing when you least want them to (which could in turn cause the motor to burn out in the worst case), especially as winter is approaching and the doomsayers claim it'll be worse than last year (though the realistic view is it'll be not as bad!!)... :confused:

Squealing bearings are bad bearings, and even if they've gone quiet, they're still bad bearings...
 
Yes, I know, but the CH is not actually vital for us, so I'll strike a balance and do it when the mood strikes.


We have other means of heating and I've fitted an electric shower, so the very worst that can happen is a day or two of icicles. No sweat. Literally!


Agree with you about Forecasters. Shame old Bill Foggitt passed on - he was the best.
 
Well, with a fresh charge in the mini-vac, I finished off this morning - or thought I had.

Once I'd removed the final baffle and cleared up the loose stuff in the bottom of the boiler, I got a stiff brush and scrubbed like bu**ery. Dislodged so much more soot and stuff that I ran out of charge again!. Gave it four hours then finished off.

Filthy, filthy, filthy job, but the boiler is working cleanly and efficiently now. No soot, no smell.

The job's a good un!
 
Back
Top