• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Blower motor help needed, please....

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
The blower motor on my E30+ has worked fine til now, but without warning stopped functioning. It had been on for about 5 minutes or less while the engine was running, and then simply shut down even though the switch was still on--no strange noise, it just gently stopped.

I have checked in the quarterberth porthole where the motor is located, hoping to find a fuse or connections that I could check, but there are only two wires coming of the blower motor and going somewhere under the quarterberth--no connections or fuses visible.

Does anyone have any idea how I might proceed to determine why it's not working and what to do to fix it? I know it's not essential for diesel operation, but I would like it to work properly to vent the engine compartment on a hot day, and just because I like everything to work well on the boat.

Thanks for any advice--please keep it simple as I'm still a neophyte with electrical stuff (did fix the bilge pump and replaced the autohelm drive belt, though!).

Frank.
 

valentor

Member II
Frank;

Use very basic logic to trace this type of problem. First be sure there is power (12 volts) getting to the blower. You can either use a tester, or hook up some known-good 12 volt appliance (a light fixture perhaps). Often if a device stops suddenly, a wire has simply broken.

If there is power, then the blower must be the problem. Perhaps there is a heat sensor or fuse in the blower assembly (though this is unlikely). You might have to replace the blower.

If there is no power, then trace those two wires to their power source. That could be the ignition switch, a separate blower switch, a fuse, or a breaker in the panel. Check each of them for power. You need to check power in and out of each point. Replace any wires, switches, blower motors, whatever is the source of the problem.

Once you have determined that the blower is good and the power source is good - it simply has to work.

If you have to replace any components, make sure the fuse or breaker is the weakest link in the circuit. For example, if the blower requires 13 AMPS to run, use a 15 AMP breaker, 14 gauge wire, and switches rated for more than 15 AMPS. Any components not rated higher than the source breaker are a fire hazard.

Ah, the joys of boat ownership...


Good Luck;

Steve
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Thanks, Steve. That all makes sense to me--the hardest part might be to crawl through the boat to find all these various connections!
Frank.
 

NateHanson

Sustaining Member
Chances are, you'll only have to check connections at the blower motor itself, and at the switch on the panel.
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Thanks, Nate. I think that's where I'll start, but the puzzling thing is that the boat was stationary at the dock when the blower motor quit--ie. no real reason for the connection to be broken at that time, as compared to crashing through waves. I had thought it more likely that it might be a fuse that decided to blow, but I can't see a fuse anywhere along that line, though I haven't been able to follow it all the way along yet.

They say one needs mental challenges to keep the brain functioning in older age--with boats, there never seems to be a shortage of such challenges!:)

Thanks again.

Frank.
 

rwthomas1

Sustaining Partner
Check for voltage at the blower. Then check that the blower functions by hot wiring it direct to a battery. That will at least tell you if it functions. If it does, start chasing voltage on the wires that feed it. Either you will find a broken wire, a blown fuse or a bad switch. RT
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Thanks, Rob. I think the main challenge now will be to trace the wires back to the connections, as they seem to disappear under the quarterberth, and I haven't yet determined where they might reappear, except for at the toggle switch on the engine panel--but the initial direction is in the opposite direction, so I have to figure out why that might be....
Thanks again.
Frank.
 

Chris Miller

Sustaining Member
Mine had quit working last year, switch was the easiest & cheapest place to start:egrin: and happened to be it! If the blower is really buried and it's not the switch, you might want to consider putting it somewhere easier to get to?
Chris
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Thanks, Chris. The puzzling thing about this is that it started to work as usual and then just stopped after being on for about 5 minutes, with the boat sitting at the dock (so no significant vibration to loosen wires or connnections). You're right that the switch at the engine panel is the easiest to reach through the cockpit locker, so I'll start there. Hopefully it will be something easy, as my mind just doesn't seem to comprehend electronics very well. But the responses so far have been very helpful, so I'm feeling more optomistic that I'll figure it out.
Thanks again.
Frank.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
The original blower failed several years in our '88 model and I put in a new Attwood. The original 3" flex hose was coming apart and needed replacing anyway...
And so it goes.

Present 'net price for a new blower seems to run from $26 to $30 or so.
If yours is original, maybe it's time for a replacement. Sometimes this stuff fails the "smoke test" and sometimes it just fails...
:(
Loren
 

Attachments

  • 259828_d.jpg
    259828_d.jpg
    6.1 KB · Views: 160

Kim Schoedel

Member III
Still on the subject but not quite. I use my old noisey blower to remove heat. Would like to replace with a quieter one. But, while rumageing around under the cockpit I have noticed that the pickup hose for the blower goes all the way down beside the engine. I can understand this for a gas powered mill, but diesel? It seems to me, since hot air rises, that it would make more sense to be pulling the air right off the under side of the cockpit.

And perhaps this would help empty more heat out of the lazerette where the refrigerator compressor/condensor (which generates heat too) is.

Understanding of course that removal of fumes is the main fuction of the blower, what would it hurt to pull the heat off the top???
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Getting the Heat out

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=3602&highlight=attwood+blower

This thread also covers this to some extent.

I rerouted my intake to the top of the engine compartment just for the reasons you mention. As our club diesel mechanic/class instructor told us, these engines are typically designed to shed about 3% to 5% of their waste heat by direct radiation. So, keep the block clean and run that exhaust fan.

(This is one of the few situations where having a properly-functioning item on your boat really...sucks!)
:)

Loren in PDX
 

Shadowfax

Member III
I've often thought the same thing.

It appears the original intent of the blower system was to remove heavier then air gases [gasoline, propane] from the bilge. My boat is diesel and we cook with CNG, a lighter then air gas, so a fan intake located at the bottom of the bilge, really doesn't perform the task it appears it was designed for.

It would seem to me that moving the intake up to the top of the engine compartment would do a much better job of removing heat and fumes from this area, even if the original intent of system was the removal of heavier then air gases, not heat.

Comments ?
 

jreddington

Member III
1st, on troubleshooting electrical for non electricians, just thing about piping and what goes out to the device must come back. Therefore, don't forget to check the ground wire and make sure it's solid back to the ground bus (where all the other ground wires go back to.)

2nd. As far as placement of the blower intake hose, also remember what goes in must go out. To maximize cooling of the engine compartment area, the air intake to the exhaust blower (the gozeoutta:egrin:) should be as far away from the fresh air intake port (the gozeinta) as practical. That way you draw air completely through the compartment picking up the maximum amount of heat and fumes.

So if you have a fresh air intake like mine, up on the port combing near the stern, you would want to draw air near the bottom of the compartment, farther to the starboard side. If the engine compartment intake is too close to the exhaust, all you do is pull fresh air in and expell that same air out before it has had a chance to pick up heat and fumes.
 

Kim Schoedel

Member III
Thanks Jim, now I understand how this is supposed to work, It is a give and take program for airflow. I have a flex hose (looks like 4") running from the scoop on the stern cap down to the port side of the engine and the blower intake/exit (same size hose) is on the starboard side running down to the engine from the blower. This is old stuff that needs replacing so here is another job to do for someone much thinner than I. I think I will replace the blower at the same time as it sounds like a B25 when on.
 
Top