Fried Blower Motor

CoralReefer

CoralReefer

New Member
Mar 26, 2008
685
Nashville, TN
Boat Info
1987 250 Sundancer
Engines
260 Mercruiser w/Alpha I
I run my blower a lot just to be safe. This weekend I forgot and left it on while cruising for about 15 minutes. When I finally stopped, I smelled something burning. I noticed that the blower wasn't running. I just the bus fuse and sure enough it was blown. I replaced the fuse and motor isn't working. I'm thinking it's fried and I'll replace. Shouldn't these motors hold up to long periods of being on?
 
No! They are not rated for continuous duty. You were lucky that the fuse blew before something serious happened. If you run the blower a lot you should replace it with one that is rated for continuous duty. Jabsco makes a couple that are can be run all the time and they are also very quiet. Not inexpensive, though. What's that saying, "You get what you pay for."
 
You suppose that was the original that came with the boat? 20 yrs old....not bad, glad your fuse blew.
 
Ok, this is starting really annoy me with the continuous duty fan BS. First of all, continuous duty fans are needed if you plan to fun your fan ALL THE TIME....24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That is the definition of continuous duty. The fans on your boat are made to run when the motors are running. This included JPG is from my manual that states, ' it is recommended that the bilge blower run all the time when the engines are running'.

Are these fans rated for 24/7 running, no. Are they rated to run a couple of hours continuously yes. Hell, they can even run a couple of days continuously and are designed to do that.

Definition of continuously is 24/7. These blower do not need to be continuous duty rated. Is it going to hurt, no, is it needed, no.

Please do start freaking everyone out that your SeaRay blower is not rated to run how you need it to. Sometimes fan break, and catch fire. And sometimes continuous duty fan break and catch fire. Just how it is.

bilgeblower.jpg
 
Gee. Sorry that you are annoyed. I've see quite a few problems caused by running these blowers that are meant to be run for only a few minutes instead being run for hours. Boat/US insurance reported on these problem as an insurance loss issue. Does that mean that thousands have failed? No, probably not. But it was visible enough to raise a red flag to their insureds.

Since some people tend to run them all day and some also run the blowers for hours with the genset operating, it makes sense to get blowers that are rated for being operated for hours, not minutes.

Looks like I'm going to keep annoying you. Oh well.
 
they are rated to run for hours...not minutes. Not sure what type of blower you originally had that is only rated for minutes but blowers are rated for hours of running, not continuous (24/7) but hours. What blower would only be rated to run for a couple of minutes ? Come on, it is not made out of balsa wood or paper.
 
Sometimes things wear out and break.....I've discovered here that it's a decision based on personal preference. I run mine all the time that my engines are running, and haven't lost one yet. If I lose one tonight, I'll replace it. I turn it on to reduce the possibility of igniting fumes, and keep it on to reduce ER heat. Do what makes you happy.
 
OK - so to blower in 5MPH? I do this from habit and staying on the side of caution. necessary / not? premature wear on the crappy blower?
 
Jim at BOE has some nice, quality blowers for sale. The cheapo ones they put on these boats are a pet peave of mine, mostly because of the noise they make. Waiting to have one break so I can pull them both out.
 
Make sure you research the amp draw the continuous duty require vs. the stock units from the factory....there is a difference....enough of a difference that it would exceed my 7.5 amp breaker on my EIM....each blower on my boat is on seperate breakers...both 7.5 amp. on 14 AWG wires. It doesn't appear to me that you can just swap out the EIM breakers for a slightly higher amp rating either.

I think going to a continuous duty is a good idea, just don't go creating other problems while doing it.

My $0.015
 
If you want less problems do what Franks suggests, get a continuous duty blower and don't worry about who it annoys :)

IF you got 20years out of it you should feel lucky, I got 1year out of mine and I don't run it ALL the time but alot of the time (before start up, after shutdown, during no wake speeds)

As as someone else pointed out things break and there is nothing yo ucan do about it, just got a call on the tow vehical (service engine soon light was on) needs a new AF sensor, reprograming of said sensor and reprogramming of ECU, $294.87 and the truck only has 39k miles and is an 06, so yea things break.
 
fc3 said:
No! They are not rated for continuous duty. You were lucky that the fuse blew before something serious happened.
Click to expand...

Yes, those stock blowers are time bombs, and must be defused (don't cut the blue wire).

I've had alternators, pumps and starter motors over heat and burn out, not to mention lots of other parts. Not sure if I should never use those again, or replace all of them with heavy duty after market parts.

After 20 years, electric motors of all types will fail, and it can be dangerous. Even continuous motor blowers will burn out. They just may not burn out as frequently as every 20 years.

Don't get me wrong - I want to upgrade my stock blowers, and think your idea is great - I just don't think they are suicide traps.
 
Last edited:
sfergson727 said:
Does anyone else find it ironic that a bilge blower can cause an explosion on a boat? I suppose that there are a multitude of things in the engine room that can cause disaster if they meltdown, but a bilge blower? Is nothing sacred? I for one, will be placing a nice smooth rock that my son found on the beach into my engine room, so at least I will have one thing down there that will not explode, burst, spontanously combust or disentregrate, causing the deaths of myself and my family. I will have to leave the bilge lights on 24/7 so that my engines may admire the nice rock.........

(take this as intended, tongue firmly planted in cheek, please)
Click to expand...

Careful, stones have been known to bounce up in heavy seas and break open fuel lines and then fall and cause sparks against engine mounts.
 
The bad thing about my issue is that that motor was installed three weeks ago. The PO had ordered the part and I installed right after purchase. It worked fine up until this past weekend. I did have one lock up on my 260 (Wasp next dropped into the fan blades keeping it from turning). I'm going to replace with a name brand with warranty this weekend. I just hope there isn't any fried wiring that will force me to re-wire all the way to the switch.
 
This is what Jabsco says on the spec sheet for a typical non-continuous blower.

"Jabsco blowers are primarily intended for intermittent duty
cycles such as evacuating fuel vapors from bilge areas. If
desired, they also may be used for other general air circulation
applications with longer duty cycles. However, when doing so,
it should be noted that the maximum motor life is approximately
1000 hours. Therefore, the blower should only be used for
applications if this length of service is acceptable."

And for continuous:

"Extended Life 5,000 Hour Motor"

You can do the math
 
It was threads like this which made me go and replace my blower. It was still operational but very loud and just replaced it to hopefully avoid any future problems. I went with the Shurflo Yellowtail 4" and it's quieter than the original and the box says continuous duty. Their web site says it as well - link. The best part is it was only $35 (on sale) plus I had one of my many $10 coupon things. Anyway - it's cheap insurance to just replace an old blower with a newer one.
 
Well, replaced the blower. Turns out it sucked up a water bottle cap into the fan and locked it up. Hence the burnout. Oh well, at least it was an excuse to upgrade. New one works great!! Happy boating.
 
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