Caframo fans

[Alii]

We have gone through about a dozen Caframo fans, and have found they just don't last. For salon wall fans we have gone back to Hella Turbos (they last 10 times longer) but haven't found an alternative for the portable 747 Ultimate model -- the one with the suction-cup base. Has anyone found the secret for repairing these fans when the electric motor fizzles out?

[donradcliffe]

I've found that the Caframo motors last far longer than their control switches.

[robert sailor]

Mm mm, ours have lasted for 4 years so far from intermittent use to running everyday 24/7 for 6 months at a time without issues, mind you we only operate them on the slower speed so that might make a difference.

[RaymondR]

I have three Caframo's I installed in 2012 still going strong and they get a fair bit of use in Oz, it's been 100 degrees here the last few days.


Don't know if they are still high quality but the fans they put in heavy haulage trucks used to last forever.

[belizesailor]

My experience with Caframo has been very good.

[zeehag]

my caframo lasted one year.
my o2cool lasted 4 years. and o2cool has 3 way power options if you find the correct one. (12v, 120v, battery)

[steve77]

We installed four fans several years ago. All four failed in short order and Caframo replaced all of them. They said they were redesigning the switches because of the premature failures. Since then I have installed two more fans.

There have been no more failures of the original four after six years, and no failures of the newest two after four years.

Once the switch issue was resolved I have been a happy customer.

Have you contacted Cafarmo about the failure? They were very helpful to me.

Cheers!

Steve

[Sandero]

Hello turbos are OK... far from perfect.... when they go whacky they get replaced. No biggie... we have 3... Don't recall when they were replaced.... it's that long.

[JPA Cate]

We have 2 Caframo fans. Also used mostly on the low setting, since I discovered I got only noise, not more cool, from the higher speed. One's motor is older than our ownership of the boat--13 yrs., and the other is about 8 yrs. old. No complaints at all. We also have an old Hella, that has to be on its last legs, but still cools our slumbers in the forepeak, that we brought from our first Insatiable.

Ann

[belizesailor]

Alii, what is failing on your Caframo fans?

Ive had them ashore and afloat for many years, all in the tropics, and have never had a motor fail that I recall. Did have bearings go bad on one over a period of years. Switches, as with most things in the tropics, are the most common point of failure but these can be serviced/replaced. Blades get funky/damaged, but easy to replace. Old style bases more common to fail, newer versions much better in every way.

[Sea Life]

We have also been more than happy with the power to air ratio of our Caframo fans. Alot of the noise seems to come from unbalanced fan blades, fix that and they are quieter. Our 8 year old fans have some bearing noise....They are run constantly.

OP, voltage issues perhaps? Seems alot of people tie them into lighting circuits and get too much voltage drop.

[Alii]

Thank you all for the replies and suggestions. I don't see how I can troubleshoot, bypass and/or replace the switch. It pops out of the plastic housing but just barely, not far enough to see the switch mechanism itself or access the wiring. There appear to be two plastic plugs which I presume are covering 2 screws holding the housing together around the motor. The plugs won't pop out; I will need to drill them out to access the (supposed) screw heads. Can anyone confirm this is the way to go before I become needlessly destructive?