Overheating extractor fan

[Grunff]

No, this is not good. Disconnect the fan and terminate the cable immediately. Fire risk.

[Christian McArdle]

Stop using it immediately and chuck it out. Extractor fans are a common cause of house fires.

Christian.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Actually, every run-on timer I've seen has done exactly this (they all use that same board). Doesn't always show through the plastic -- maybe yours was made of some particularly cheap plastic?

You could just remove the run-on timer board, and connect the fan directly to the switched supply.

[Grunff]

Really? I would not be happy to know that I have a resistor somewhere in the house that looks like that!

[Andy Hall]

Throw it away and buy a Vent-Axia one.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Nick Challoner]

Hi all, i have an extractor fan which appears to be overheating. I've taken some photos which you can see at:

noticed some discolouration to the fan case (third photo on above page), and on removing the fan case one of the electronic components (a large resistor) appears to be getting very hot (first photo on above page).

I suspect that the big resistor is supposed to get quite warm, but is it supposed to get as hot as this one is please? I'd rather buy a new fan than risk it catching fire!

TIA...Nick.

[Lurch]

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 14:48:03 GMT, Nick Challoner strung together this:

Buy a new one then. They're only £15-20.

[Pete C]

If you buy a new fan make sure it won't suffer the same problem.

Alternatively see if it can be replaced under warrantee and/or put a higher wattage resistor in there.

Carbon never was the best material for power resistors ;)

cheers, Pete.

[Lurch]

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 18:46:00 +0100, Pete C strung together this:

A fan that'll never wear out or go faulty, I'd be interested if anyone finds any of these.

Warranty, doubtful. Higher wattage resistor, not worth the faffing about when the fan itself will probably fail soon. Bestb just to change the complete unit for what it costs.

Since when do things get manufactured using the 'best' components? ;-)

[Pete C]

Should be possible to get a longer lasting one. I'd bet most of the failures are down to cheapo electronics, so bypassing them and fitting a remote timer costing £15 would be a good way to go.

Maybe, but if a new fan costs £20 and a new resistor takes 1/2hr to put in, that works out to an 'hourly rate' of £40 for the DIYer, which isn't too bad...

Making a power resistor out of a non combustible material would have been a bit better :)

cheers, Pete.

[Lurch]

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 22:56:21 GMT, "Doctor D." strung together this:

But they're not actually the same fan though, there is no overrun timer on those.

[N. Thornton]

new unit, same risk. Put decent resistor in it, you have a safe unit - but judging by the case you need to spread that heat out, so Id choose a row of Rs well spaced out.

No I wouldnt, Id get rid of the fan, silly things. Get a window lock that will lock it 1/2" open instead. Silent, reliable, cheap, uses no power.

Regards, NT

[Doctor D.]

I have recently removed two in the same house in exactly the same condition as this one. They looked identical, even as far as the badge on the cover. I replaced them with

at £9.39 each.

They may eventually go the same way, but the cooked ones lasted 8 years, the new ones cost less than a tenner, and they took about 10 minutes each to replace.

[usenet]

That assumes you have a window of course.

[usenet]

So "Get a window lock that will .... " is offering an option? :-)

[John S]

replying to Pete C, John S wrote: On my third Manrose fan after two resistor burnouts. Where can I get a safe higher wattage resistor? Will drilling some holes in the circuit board box help to keep it cool?

[tabbypurr]

rapidonline.com

yes. But the holes may clog with dust in time, losing the benefit.

NT

[Brian Gaff]

The question is, what is there a resistor in it for in the first place? Brian