Fan Repair
- Thread starter Larry Hinckley
- Start date
Douglas Hicks
Member
Larry, is that a rolled up newspaper I see? Rreplace the newspaper w/ a piece of wood. You have to remember most fans are built to a price point. Before getting out the tools,Talk to the cook and make sure this is not new problem. If the noise is not new, may be cleaning the fan is not the cause. Find out when the noise happens, on start up, always, on shut down or intermittant. How loud is the noise? Make sure the fan switch is on. You can control the operation of the fan by using the switch at the fan. What kind of noise do you hear, squeeks, rattles, or knocks. Can they live with the noise? or do they really want the noise stopped?
1. BELT The easiest to eliminate is the squeeky/squeling belt. The belt may need replacement, adjustment jor cleaning of the pulleys.
2. WHOOP/WHOOP NOISE this may be caused by a paper towel, dish cloth or take out styrofoam tray that has been sucked up into the fan..
2. RATTLE/KNOCK/SCRAPE The most common noise is the rattle or knock. Turn the wheel by hand, even though this won't usually make the noise. Turn the fan on, watch for out of round. If you hear a scraping noise, feel for clearance between the wheel and the tub. If there is inadaquate clearance, that is probably the noise. You may need to pull gently up on the inner tub ( part with the motor). Look for movement. Sometimes you can tighten the fastners. Other times you may need to adjust the brackets holding the fan together. Sometimes you need to add nuts and bolts, using body washers. Sometimes you can just pull up on the area and that will stop the noise. In severe cases, you may need to change the angle of the fan shaaft. I had one fan that I used a hammer and just increased the clearence between the whell and the housing. The picture shows a newspaper between the brace and the sheet metal? Using a piece of wood in that location may help. Make all adjustments sparingly, never more than what can be undone.
3. FAN BRAND. Some fans are just a POS. That is a technical term for piece of shit. The worst brand is Greenheck, I've got a couple of them I do not tip, as that will put stress on the parts and cause noise. Sometimes adding metal braces to the base will strengthen the fan enought to stop the noise. A fan hinge kit may help also.
4. Sometimes, nothing will help, the customer may just have to live with the noise, or spend $2,000 / $2500 for a new fan.
Douglas Hicks
General Fire Equipment Co of Eastern Oregon,Inc
1. BELT The easiest to eliminate is the squeeky/squeling belt. The belt may need replacement, adjustment jor cleaning of the pulleys.
2. WHOOP/WHOOP NOISE this may be caused by a paper towel, dish cloth or take out styrofoam tray that has been sucked up into the fan..
2. RATTLE/KNOCK/SCRAPE The most common noise is the rattle or knock. Turn the wheel by hand, even though this won't usually make the noise. Turn the fan on, watch for out of round. If you hear a scraping noise, feel for clearance between the wheel and the tub. If there is inadaquate clearance, that is probably the noise. You may need to pull gently up on the inner tub ( part with the motor). Look for movement. Sometimes you can tighten the fastners. Other times you may need to adjust the brackets holding the fan together. Sometimes you need to add nuts and bolts, using body washers. Sometimes you can just pull up on the area and that will stop the noise. In severe cases, you may need to change the angle of the fan shaaft. I had one fan that I used a hammer and just increased the clearence between the whell and the housing. The picture shows a newspaper between the brace and the sheet metal? Using a piece of wood in that location may help. Make all adjustments sparingly, never more than what can be undone.
3. FAN BRAND. Some fans are just a POS. That is a technical term for piece of shit. The worst brand is Greenheck, I've got a couple of them I do not tip, as that will put stress on the parts and cause noise. Sometimes adding metal braces to the base will strengthen the fan enought to stop the noise. A fan hinge kit may help also.
4. Sometimes, nothing will help, the customer may just have to live with the noise, or spend $2,000 / $2500 for a new fan.
Douglas Hicks
General Fire Equipment Co of Eastern Oregon,Inc
kmjt1021
Member
on second look, a comom problem with those fans is the rubber grommets under the brackets the hold the supports, they come lose and need to be realigned, I do a place with three of those fans and every one has that problem, after it is tipped we need to realign them, it only takes a minute to pull them back into place.
Douglas Hicks
Member
Bryan, you are right about the wood. As to the grommets, I have not had a problem with them, but aren't they similar to the motor mount rubber biscuits used on the 55 to 57 small block Chevy? I think the parts house may have something that might work. Grainger also has them available, calling them an isolator. If the fan is a Dayton, call tech support @ 847.535.5400 with the model number, if it is known.
Douglas Hicks
General Fire Equipment Co of Eastern Oregon, Inc
Douglas Hicks
General Fire Equipment Co of Eastern Oregon, Inc
Larry Hinckley
Hall of Fame Member
Doug,
The reason I was there in the first place was to help a friend. The fan failed because the welds were broken on one of the fan motor support brackets. Also two of the four isolators were broken. We replaced the isolaters and bolted the bracket back in place.What you are seeing in the picture is scrap pieces of 1x4 pine boards that someone had installed to level the fan. The fan is out of balance, the past repair person used a 2 groove pulley on the fan with one groove broken and a single groove on the motor. It appeared that the guy had trouble installing the key on the fan shaft so he tried to drive it in with a hammer mushrooming the end of the key which sticks out about 1/2". The drive belt was ok and the support bearings were ok, everything else was junk. My recommendation was to replace the fan. The old fan is about 30 years old. It was cleaned for the first time this year. This is a Ti Restaurant!!
Thank you for the help. That's why this is such a great industry in which to work, because of guys like you who are willing to help.
Take Care
The reason I was there in the first place was to help a friend. The fan failed because the welds were broken on one of the fan motor support brackets. Also two of the four isolators were broken. We replaced the isolaters and bolted the bracket back in place.What you are seeing in the picture is scrap pieces of 1x4 pine boards that someone had installed to level the fan. The fan is out of balance, the past repair person used a 2 groove pulley on the fan with one groove broken and a single groove on the motor. It appeared that the guy had trouble installing the key on the fan shaft so he tried to drive it in with a hammer mushrooming the end of the key which sticks out about 1/2". The drive belt was ok and the support bearings were ok, everything else was junk. My recommendation was to replace the fan. The old fan is about 30 years old. It was cleaned for the first time this year. This is a Ti Restaurant!!
Thank you for the help. That's why this is such a great industry in which to work, because of guys like you who are willing to help.
Take Care