It was supposed to be a simple install. I found a great deal on not one, but two Hella ventilation fans. the boxes were a bit rough so I figure the shop found some stale inventory and were blowing them out. They were about half price. How could I refuse?
They were just what we needed as our boat did not have any interior fans in the salon area. This had been ok for what we have been doing with the boat so far but we wanted to add fans for our upcoming live aboard life. Lagoon even builds in a spot on each side of the cabin top for the fans to be mounted. This sounds so easy. If you have ever worked on a boat, you will of course, already recognize where this is leading.
So we have a morning to kill in Montague Harbour I’ll use this time to put the port side fan in. There is a wood strip on the headliner that holds the pot lights that must be the wiring channel. So off comes the wood strip and yes there is a bit of a wire channel there but not to the fan mounting pad. Out comes the drill and the fish wire. Anyone who has ever tried to fish a wire through 2 quarter inch holes 18 inches apart and at right angles to the path of the wire will understand why it took 4 HOURS to get just the first wire run done.
Now I need to get it to the breaker panel on the diagonal opposite of the cabin. Aft through the cabin top over the door way and into the breaker panel. Another 3 HOURS. Yes that’s a total of 7 hours to run maybe 15 feet of wire. But yay, woohoo its done almost time for a beer to celebrate lets just hook it up and see how it works.
Power connected, breaker on, fan switched on and the blade begins to spin slowly at first and then still slowly. Barb and I look at each other in disbelief / disappointment. That’s it? Even on high? There is barely enough wind to blow out a candle. It looks like its running on half speed.
Half Speed my tired frustrated brain triggers on something. I grab the box that the fan came in. There it is right on the side of the box. Smallish print but very legible. 24 Volts …. 24 volt fans. 12 volt boat power equals half speed.
No wonder they were old and on sale !!!!!!!!!
Anybody want a good deal on some 24 volt fans? I’ve got two.