Silencing Camfrano Fans

[rebel heart]

We've got a few of the nice Camfrano 3 speed fans. All of them seem to get some rattles in them, especially at low speed, in various positions. Has anyone come up with a good way to take care of it? Take them apart and oil them or something of the sort?

[MarkJ]

Hella and Camfrano should be shot for false advertising. If those fans are silent I wonder why I sleep in a roar like and airport runway.

[jstevens]

I have 4 Camfranos and 2 Hellas on board. Most of them run 24/7 during the summer. Keeping them quiet is tricky and not always successful. Dirt build up is the usual reason them getting noisy. The other reason is age. You can do something about the dirt, but not much about the age.
Once or twice a year (depending on dirt/grease accumulation) I thoroughly clean them. This is easier on the Hellas as there is no cage in the back. the Camfranos I completely disassemble and clean.
Getting the Camfranos back together sometimes results in more noise than before cleaning, but that is usually overcome by another, more careful re-assembly.
My experience is that the Hellas, when new, are noisier than the Camfranos after years of use. I have a Camfrano over the head of my bunk. During the summer is runs on low every night and I can barely hear it.
On high all of the fans are noisy.
The main drawback on the Camfranos are their penchant for turning on whenever I transmit on the SSB at 12mHz.

John

[zeehag]

my nice cheapo fans are very quiet. didnt cost much either.. have lasted now 3 years.


calframo--no reason to purchase when walmart and other fans do so well....

[colemj]

Rebel, are yours bulkhead mounted? I find that over time the spring that holds the two mounting pieces together and allows you to pull out the fan and turn it gets weak and the locating teeth start to chatter (I know this sentence sounds stupid if you don't have this version of the fan, but makes sense if you do). For a test, remove the fan from the bulkhead and tighten the nut in the back firmly so there is no way the fan can be turned anymore. Remount and see if it is quiet.

I find it is better to trade the ability to rotate the fan for more quiet operation on some of our fans (like in our berth) because we never rotate them anyway and tilting takes care of the full range of motion we need.

Another possibility is if the fan is mounted on a thin bulkhead that can resonate like a drum with a little vibration from the fan.

Mark

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by zeehag

my nice cheapo fans are very quiet. didnt cost much either.. have lasted now 3 years.


calframo--no reason to purchase when walmart and other fans do so well....

thanks, best of luck

[cheoah]

My Hellas are loud and annoying to adjust with the open back. My wife sticks her fingers in there nearly every time. They rattle when the knob is loose, but for some other reason too that I have yet to figure out.

The caframo with the push button in the center is pretty quiet but its new. Is that the kind you have with the big push button?

[colemj]

Originally Posted by cheoah

My wife sticks her fingers in there nearly every time.

With Hella's, she will only be able to do that 10 times...

Mark

[colemj]

Originally Posted by cheoah

The caframo with the push button in the center is pretty quiet but its new. Is that the kind you have with the big push button?

Excellent point - I forgot that caframo makes many different models and types of fans. In the post above, I was discussing their open two-blade fans. Since these are 2-speed, I don't think they are the ones Rebel has.

Mark

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

thanks, best of luck

bakatcha

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by cheoah

My Hellas are loud and annoying to adjust with the open back. My wife sticks her fingers in there nearly every time. They rattle when the knob is loose, but for some other reason too that I have yet to figure out.

The caframo with the push button in the center is pretty quiet but its new. Is that the kind you have with the big push button?

I've got the "sirrico" I think. Three speed with some timer options.

I don't think it's the mount itself as it's pretty much all of them and they're all mounted differently. I suppose I just need to clean the blades, check it out, disassemble, check it out, etc.

We're in Sea of Cortez with no AC so the fans are on the important list.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by jstevens

I have 4 Camfranos and 2 Hellas on board. Most of them run 24/7 during the summer. Keeping them quiet is tricky and not always successful. Dirt build up is the usual reason them getting noisy. The other reason is age. You can do something about the dirt, but not much about the age.
Once or twice a year (depending on dirt/grease accumulation) I thoroughly clean them. This is easier on the Hellas as there is no cage in the back. the Camfranos I completely disassemble and clean.
Getting the Camfranos back together sometimes results in more noise than before cleaning, but that is usually overcome by another, more careful re-assembly.

Hopefully it's just dirt making the blades wobble then. I'll check it out and report back.

[jstevens]

To clarify on the type of Caframo fan, I have the Bora fans. Those are the 3-bladed, 3-speed fans with the control button in the middle.

Zeehag - what model fan did you buy at Walmart. I couldn't find any 12VDC fans there the last time I looked. All they had were 120VAC fans that would have to be run through an inverter, or portable fans that run off C or D cell batteries.

I do have a couple of small AC fans on board that I can use dockside, but otherwise I only use 12VDC fans.

John