Been there, done that. Clean it up, dry lube ONLY, run it to break it in
again. I have a 115k BTU that runs fine, an older 40k btu job that wants
to hang up the vanes just like yours. That one is such a PITA that I
have a pressure guage (it runs at 3 psi) attached to it so I can see
when it is starting to hang up and needs some attention. Again.

There is an outfit in Indiana (name escapes me) that stocks parts for
all brands of torpedo heaters. Prices are reasonable, not cheap. I'll
look up the catalog if you need it. I've ordered injector nozzles and
such from them.

Karl Townsend wrote:
There's a little air pump on my torpedo kerosene heater. It wants to bind
and stall, kicking out the overload. I just found out a replacement heater
is $300.

I took the whole thing apart. Its just a hockey puck, made of EDM carbon
graphite, with four sliding vanes sitting off center in an aluminum chamber.
I cleaned everything, finishing with Brake Clean. Then put it all back
together and used just a dab of dry graphite lube on all the surfaces.

"The Kid" tells me he did the same thing three times last winter.

Any suggestions? I'm thinking of using my graphite magent on my surface
grinder and shaving a thou off each face of the hockey puck shaped impeller.
Good Idea? Or will the extra clearance kill it?

Karl