Bilge blower replacement

Went out Thursday and when I cut my throttle to drift for a bit I was kind of taken by the relative quiet until I realized the quiet was no bilge blowers running.

Since it would have killed my plans for the rest of the weekend, I went the low-effort route and replaced the factory Atwood Turbo4000 blowers with the dirt cheap West Marine Turbo4000 knock-offs (which the store person pulled out of a freshly shipped carton labeled ATWOOD) since they were $29 each and a dead ringer for the OEM Atwoods (meaning no headaches with air ducts or mounting flanges).

I was worried it would be a PITA, but it was probably one of the easier repairs I've made. I kind of got lazy and used heat shrink butt splices to keep the Delphi connectors, ordinarily I would have replaced them with Deutsch connectors. And they turned out to be easier to reach than I thought they would be.

The new West Marine knock-offs are also significantly quieter than the OEM blowers were, which kind of surprises me considering they look identical and based on the shipping carton are almost surely 100% Atwood inside. I know some here have suggested Jabsco continuous duty blowers for added quiet, for the money they would have to be dead silent to justify the price.

Do you happen to have the part numbers or spec sheet for the Delphi or Deutsch connectors? Looking for something boat worthy to use for things like this - as I have to move the blower motors occasionally to change impellers. Would be than snip and crimp over and over.

markrsimon said:

Do you happen to have the part numbers or spec sheet for the Delphi or Deutsch connectors? Looking for something boat worthy to use for things like this - as I have to move the blower motors occasionally to change impellers. Would be than snip and crimp over and over.

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Yeah, I'm not a fan of cut-and-splice if I can help it, I only did it last Friday in the name of expediency, with some idea that these cheap West Marine blowers would fail and/or be replaced with something better at some point where I had more downtime. I figured double-wall, glue filled heat shrink butt splices that kept the OEM Delphi connectors in play would be "OK".

Even though they were pretty easy to reach, cutting out the female Delphi connector and replacing it with a Deutsch connector would have been sort of putzy considering the reach to the back of the engine space and the nature of crimping on the pins on the wiring harness side.

I've bought all my Deutsch connectors here -- https://theelectricaldepot.com/. I don't know about prices or whatever, but they ship fast, are genuine parts and have convenient pre-made kits for Deutsch connectors (eg, male/female kit).

I picked using Deutsch DT & DTP connectors over the Delphi ones mostly because they seemed to be roughly equal in "harsh environment" durability and easier to put together. The cheap crimper was also a lot cheaper than the Delphi one.

Most of my 2007 310 seems to have used Delphi (cockpit lights, blowers) but not the head system (Deutsch) or either of the fridges (just butt spliced). I've swapped out the Delphi ones in the hard top lighting.

Had to replace a couple earlier in the year. They came from Autozone - much less expensive, same thing.

markrsimon said:

Do you happen to have the part numbers or spec sheet for the Delphi or Deutsch connectors? Looking for something boat worthy to use for things like this - as I have to move the blower motors occasionally to change impellers. Would be than snip and crimp over and over.

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I know, right! Do tell us more about these Deutsch Connectors.

SeadawgVB said:

I know, right! Do tell us more about these Deutsch Connectors.

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Oops, sorry, I didn't refresh my window that had been open for a while before I replied. I had been considering cannon plugs for certain items that would need to be removed from time to time, but this looks like a decent alternative.

FootballFan said:

Had to replace a couple earlier in the year. They came from Autozone - much less expensive, same thing.

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Around here I’m lucky to get auto parts out of Autozone, let alone boat parts!

I ordered a set of these and used them with fair success. Its hard to get a true AMP rating out of their spec sheet - and I ran into an issue with my fresh water pump (12vdc) tripping the breaker. Took out the connector and just crimped the wires and all was fine. So looking for a decent connector that can handle a bit or current. I’ll read up on these and probably order a few sets.

MUYI 10 Kit 2 Pin Way Waterproof Electrical Connector 2.5mm Series Ter... https://www.amazon.com/dap/B01FP1HXHQ/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_glt_fabc_8EMSTAMT5XZ5TRK91Q4J

markrsimon said:

I ordered a set of these and used them with fair success. Its hard to get a true AMP rating out of their spec sheet - and I ran into an issue with my fresh water pump (12vdc) tripping the breaker. Took out the connector and just crimped the wires and all was fine. So looking for a decent connector that can handle a bit or current. I’ll read up on these and probably order a few sets.

MUYI 10 Kit 2 Pin Way Waterproof Electrical Connector 2.5mm Series Ter... https://www.amazon.com/dap/B01FP1HXHQ/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_glt_fabc_8EMSTAMT5XZ5TRK91Q4J

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I’ve been burned before by knockoff copies of branded connectors. I won’t order Deutsch or Anderson PowerPole from Amazon, I bite the bullet and get the real deal.