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kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 11:33 am
by hughes
I have the KENLOWE ELEC FAN KIT(ENGINE SIDE OF RAD) fitted to my car and the in line spade fuse blows every time the fan quicks in. It is a 10A fuse do you know if this is the correct rating. Or any ideas whats wrong

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 11:46 am
by lambrettalad
hi have you contacted ken low ?

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:43 pm
by IslipMinor
Have you checked that the fan is free to spin? At most I would try a 15A fuse as the inrush current may be a bit too much for a 10A.

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:42 pm
by hughes
Sent an email to the Morris Minor Centre Birmingham (David Manners Group) as I have a receipt for the fan from there. A very nice and helpful gent has just phoned me after taking time to look up the information and get in touch with Kenlow. :D

The fan is supplied with a 25A fuse though should only draw 5A when running smoothly.

The fan does run freely and all earth connections appear to be ok but will double check.

Going to try slightly higher rated fuse if have one in the tool box.

Thanks for the help.

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 5:58 pm
by bmcecosse
The clue is in the 'fan is supplied with a 25 amp fuse'.........for a good reason!

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:14 pm
by chrisryder
Indeed!

The fan only runs at around 5A, but draws a lot more than that to start it from standstill. The higher rating is to allow for that impulse on starting.

I thought mine was supplied with a 30A fuse, but it could be a 25A, been a while since I looked at it.

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:47 pm
by hughes
Blew the 25A fuse

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:52 pm
by hughes
the car has had 10A fuse since I have had it and the paperwork that I have is useless. Found the above info from the Morris Minor Centre Birmingham

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:56 pm
by bmcecosse
Does it move at all when switched on?

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:16 pm
by lambrettalad
looked this up on t'net one chap suggests 35 amp fuse another guy suggests 50 amp (land rover forum ).seems very high to me :-?

did this problem start recently? or have you just fitted it? What wattage is your fan

W / V = AMPS

bearings failing?

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 9:18 pm
by hughes
The fan was fitted by the previous owner and to be honest I haven't notice come on since i've had the car. Only noticed it is not working because the car overheated. I have the receipt for it dated dec 2009 - according to kenlowe should still be ok.

Overheating prob easy fix - new radiator cap.

If you turn controller down to activate the fan it comes on and seems to run well for not more tthan 5-10 seconds then the fuse goes.

Will check earthing and wiring at weekend. Have to deal with kids (half term) till then.

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 10:03 pm
by bmcecosse
Is it running in the correct direction?? If it has to run against the normal flow of air running in to the car it will use high amps !!

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 6:46 am
by Declan_Burns
There is probably nothing wrong with the fan. In industrial applications we always use a heavy duty motor starter for fans for direct on line starting. Inrush current is typically 6.5 to 7 times rated current. If you look at a typical fan torque speed curve it is quadratic. Thats why your fuse is blowing! Whoever suggested the 35 to 50 A fuse is probably not far wrong. I would try the 35A fuse first. You don't want to use a quick blow fuse either.

Regards
Declan

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 12:52 pm
by charlie_morris_minor
this is more of a question rather than a statement..

but does not the fact that it runs for between 5 and 10 seconds suggest that the problem is not with the inrush?

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 1:57 pm
by Trickydicky
I think the issue here is that you cant say when it last worked as stated earlier in the post, you only found the fan at fault when you had a overheating problem.
It could be that the fan is actually faulty. I would disconnect it to test with higher rated fuses as you dont want to start a fire.

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 3:04 pm
by Matt
does the fan spin freely by hand?

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 4:53 pm
by bmcecosse
I agreeb with Charlie - if it runs up for 5 to 10 seconds the 'inrush' is long gone.... Are you sure it blew a 25 amp fuse - maybe it was a 2.5 amp fuse?? 25 amps is a LOT - and they don't blow easily.....

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:04 am
by Rob_Jennings
agree with others

if the fan started and then ran for a short while I would suggest that it has a more serious fault. Probably something like brushes are a mess causing a sudden short and so popping the fuse. Time for a new fan I would guess as probably not user serviceable ;-(

it is never a good solution to keep upping the fuse to 'fix' a problem, esp if it has run fine for ages. Others are right that 10A sounds a little low as a starting point, but going over 25A sounds high risk.

its a moving part so it will wear out.

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:32 pm
by hughes
Spent most of today on the car doing bits and pieces. Came to the same conclusion time for a new fan.

Re: kenlowe fan fuse blowing

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:57 pm
by bmcecosse
Just fit the mechanical fan - it works.......