Both my bilge blowers melted
 

And they did it in sequence. Wtf?

Had the blowers running last weekend and I started to smell that burning electronics smell. Oh $hit. Popped the hatch and one was smoking so I turned them off and began to investigate. One was smouldering and the other had a large black hole burned in it.

What the hell?

There has got to be more to this story -- were there any mice in the blower area? Is it possible that you may have put 24V to both instead of 12V?

Please keep us informed what happened

3pointstar

did the pumps try to pull water?

Ryan

No

No way 24v was hooked up to them, they've never been messed with to my knowledge.


Also, can a mod move this to boating general discussion? I'm not sure how it got here.

I moved it for you.

Are you certain they didn't get wet somehow, not even water splashed in the output vents when moored?

they could get hot because they never get lubricated. I have drilled a hole and dripped oil on the shaft. But looks like you're getting some new ones :)

One i can't say for sure, but the other i know for a fact didn't get wet.

Were they the atwood in line blowers? If so, i have had a couple of those melt down for no apparent reason. Attributed it to time in a wet enviroment. The replaced them with a jabsco unit.

The jist

Fuse protected ? What size fuse ?

Dirt dobbers like to nest in them and or in the hose ducks

restrictions in the air ducts or vents and or again nests of some sort built in them or ducking from whatever ie animals - dirt dobbers, rats I have even stuck in them.

plastic bags or whatever gets sucked up into them or the hose ducking - check for any restrictions.

next when blowers turn on, the end vent hose portion can get sucked up against anything - the bilge floor, a stringer, a bulkhead or whatever creating a total restriction of air movement thru the blower inwhich causes them to run very hot. very common - the reasons installed vent hoses improperly or to long or end of vent hose not sucured in place that gets sucked up against whatever when the blowers are turned on,

or the vent hoses collapsed

Most of the time its installer problem that caused this for brand new installs that fail in short order.

or a wiring problem or fuse problem ie voltage problem of some sort as well

I've seen them mounted in a spot (bottom of slight U or L) where water collects in them. I'll know it first hand when someone turns their blower on and you hear a slight gurgle of water.