Hello.
I visited a potential customer yesterday.
He has a whole house fan GABLE mounted. There are two, I believe it's called, pillow block bearings on it that the shaft of the fan blade goes threw (Fafnir size RS).. they are rubber and one is broken so the fan was all wacked out..
I removed the belt to the motor. The motor spins...... I was thinking about using a nut and bolt with large washers and a hose clamp to rescuer the bearing and get the blades turning...
However, I'm not feeling right with such a fix... it may last a day or year or five... but it's an older unit and I don't want to make any guarantees and the "wiring"of it.
It's a Delco motor... It's wired off an old bx wiring circuit in the attic of an old house.
I did some research and I think delco stopped making motors in the 70's so I'm thinking this motor is 45 or more years old... I also don't see "TP" on it.
I'm thinking about running a new circuit to a new fan.. All my research is drawing a blank...
It seams there are a slew of Ceiling mount whole house fans but I can't find Gable mount whole house fans...
Only gable mount ventilators.
I'm thinking to replace the whole fan with new, but, I can't locate them, and, the existing fan is 36" and with the housing is 40". There's a scuttle to get into the attic which is 30 1/4" square..... from corner to corner is about 40 inches... with the trim removed it should be over 40" but would still be questionable if I could get it up and in...
So maybe the 36" fan, or since the opening is 30" Maybe I should go for a 30" fan ?? Would 6" of blade make that much of a difference? And again that's if I can locate Gable Mount.
So I'm also looking into replacing the two bearings and motor and belt...
Should the info on this motor get be to a replacement or would I have to crawl back up there to take some measurements and check rotation again?
Is there anything I should be aware of as far as class or rate of rise, ambient this or code that??
What do you think... try to remount the broken bearing and walk away? Rebuild it by replacing the motor,bearings and belt? Replace the whole thing with a new circuit?
Also to mention... turns out this has been broken for several years, but when it was working, the cover to the scuttle hole would have to get slid over. There are no louvers in the second floor hall ceiling, it's a scuttle hole.
I'm thinking about installing louvers in the hole or laying it on top of the ceiling joists so that they could slide the louvers over in the summer or wood over in the winter. Do you think the suction would be enough to open the louver, or would a motorized louver be required (or no louver and let them move the wood back and forth and no louver??).
Any opinions, suggestions, comments, MUCH welcomed.
Thank you..
I visited a potential customer yesterday.
He has a whole house fan GABLE mounted. There are two, I believe it's called, pillow block bearings on it that the shaft of the fan blade goes threw (Fafnir size RS).. they are rubber and one is broken so the fan was all wacked out..
I removed the belt to the motor. The motor spins...... I was thinking about using a nut and bolt with large washers and a hose clamp to rescuer the bearing and get the blades turning...
However, I'm not feeling right with such a fix... it may last a day or year or five... but it's an older unit and I don't want to make any guarantees and the "wiring"of it.
It's a Delco motor... It's wired off an old bx wiring circuit in the attic of an old house.
I did some research and I think delco stopped making motors in the 70's so I'm thinking this motor is 45 or more years old... I also don't see "TP" on it.
I'm thinking about running a new circuit to a new fan.. All my research is drawing a blank...
It seams there are a slew of Ceiling mount whole house fans but I can't find Gable mount whole house fans...
Only gable mount ventilators.
I'm thinking to replace the whole fan with new, but, I can't locate them, and, the existing fan is 36" and with the housing is 40". There's a scuttle to get into the attic which is 30 1/4" square..... from corner to corner is about 40 inches... with the trim removed it should be over 40" but would still be questionable if I could get it up and in...
So maybe the 36" fan, or since the opening is 30" Maybe I should go for a 30" fan ?? Would 6" of blade make that much of a difference? And again that's if I can locate Gable Mount.
So I'm also looking into replacing the two bearings and motor and belt...
Should the info on this motor get be to a replacement or would I have to crawl back up there to take some measurements and check rotation again?
Is there anything I should be aware of as far as class or rate of rise, ambient this or code that??
What do you think... try to remount the broken bearing and walk away? Rebuild it by replacing the motor,bearings and belt? Replace the whole thing with a new circuit?
Also to mention... turns out this has been broken for several years, but when it was working, the cover to the scuttle hole would have to get slid over. There are no louvers in the second floor hall ceiling, it's a scuttle hole.
I'm thinking about installing louvers in the hole or laying it on top of the ceiling joists so that they could slide the louvers over in the summer or wood over in the winter. Do you think the suction would be enough to open the louver, or would a motorized louver be required (or no louver and let them move the wood back and forth and no louver??).
Any opinions, suggestions, comments, MUCH welcomed.
Thank you..