Check your grain ventilation fans out of season

At this time of year, it’s worth planning to spend a wet day in the workshop looking over your pedestal fans and the extension leads they run on. Incorrect storage and operation of fans will affect their performance and longevity.

Dust build-up can unbalance fan impellers, causing potential disintegration over time. Purchasing fans with the added strength of a pressed steel impeller avoids this. It’s worth blowing impeller vanes out with an airline before use.

Moisture can ingress into the capacitor causing premature failure. A common repair through the Evans & Pearce workshop is replacing capacitors – not an expensive repair, but it involves fan down time. Moisture and dust can also clog internal electrical elements, leading to voltage leaking across terminals and causing short circuits.

The Evans & Pearce fan

Rob White from Evans & Pearce says: “Our 1ph fans require a run capacitor, designed for continuous duty, to create an even magnetic field to cause the motor to rotate. Capacitors and motors can fail if they receive the incorrect input voltage due to inadequate cable core thickness. Our 1.1kW fans use 2.5mm, twin core and earth cable as a minimum. As cable length increases, so will the cable resistance. A 50m extension cable can see a 10V drop when running a 1.1kW pedestal fan. Voltage drop results in poor motor performance and possible damage to motor components with a tight supply voltage tolerance. Fans with motors protected with a thermal cut out ensure capacitors and motors do not fall victim to low voltage damage. Motor replacement can often be avoided; hence we recommend looking after fans in and out of season.”

Low-volume grain ventilation is relatively maintenance-free. A few hours spent looking over grain ventilation fans, helps protect your investment and the rather valuable crop they are designed specifically to cool. Fans out of action when needed are expensive and reduces ventilation capacity.