Hello my little fresh faced munchkins,
im back with another indespensable guide on solving any RVK fan based worries you might have.
Is your fan noisy?
does it vibrate?
is it a pain in your arse?
if the answer to these is yes, then I can help.
I have a rather large fan and it was not as quiet as its neighbour, not hugely noisier, but it would "thrummm" (that's a technical term for the Vibrating noise - I just made it up, but it sounds like it could be eh).
So I decided that I would do something about it, so go and gather a few tools from the shed and we will begin with Billys workshop wisdom, part 1. The fan.
You will need screwdrivers - a small and medium phillips or cross point screwdriver and a small and medium normal one
A hammer
small circlip pliers (or a screwdriver in my case)
Tea
A joint or two, to ease the boredom.
A tub to put all the little bits in so you don't spend an hour looking for them at part 2.
Right take your fan down and disconnect the wires from the terminal strip located under the small cover
Next, take a note of which wires go where on the other side of the terminal block, or take a few pics on your phone, for later.
Then unscrew the screws which hold the two halfs of the fan outer casing together, there are normally 5 of these.
Now disconnect the wires which go from the terminal block to the fan motor inside, and pull the cable through the outer casing.
My cable had a little zip tie around it which prevented it from pulling thru, so get a pair of side cutter pliers and carefully snip it off, then pull the cable thru .
then if you look at the top of the fan you will see 4 screws holding the fan motor to the fan caseing. unscrew these screws and this will release the motor from the case
This will allow you to separate both halves of the fan outer casing, and get to the inner part.
this will reveal this; The inner workings of the fan.
now for the fun part.
The motor is located in the centre of the fan wheel (the black bit that spins round and round, the motor being the silver bit).
There are a couple of differences amongst RVK fans depending on the fan size and the age of the fan. On this one there is a central cover for the bearings and shaft, its a silver part in the centre of the fan motor about the size of a small coin.
Other fans will have a cover plate which can be removed by levering a screwdriver under it.
This one tho is a pain in the ass. I ended up hitting it with the screwdriver to poke a dent in it and allow it to come away from the sides for removal, after attempts to lever it, or lift it will a small scalpel failed
This reveals the centrl fan shaft, and bearings. These are most likely the cause of your fan noise, so we will replace the bearings with some decent ones (SKF or the like.)
But...first we have to get to the little blighters.
At this point I would stop for a joint break, because the next bit almost had me breaking out the big F_off hammer.
There is a small circlip which holds in place 2 spring washers. This is it here,, looks innocent enough doesn't it.
WRONG!..its the bastard child from hell circlip. My circlip pliers were too big, to fit it so I spent about half an hour trying with 2 screwdrivers to lever it apart and prise it off. I managed eventually
Once we have this little c*nt off, its plain sailing.
Take out the spring washers, and you will see the bearings. Now that the little fucking circlip is removed the whole motor can be extracted from the housing
Now you can remove the bearings. As they will not be used again, its easiest to just hammer them out, with a small hammer and a screwdriver straight one. Angle the screwdriver through the central hole of the motor like so-...
And a quick tap or two will see them out. They only need a tap, don't go swinging the hammer as if you were at the fairground trying to launch that bell into orbit ok?
So far so good.
Now do the same to the other bearing, and you will end up with 2 small bearings.
These need replaced.
When replacing them - replace like for like, metal shielded roller bearings are what you want.
My 12 incher (the fan , you pervs) had bearings which were different sizes. one was 8x22x7mm, and the other was 10x26x8mm, these measurements being the inside diameter, outside diameter and thickness.
Order up some SKF ones from a supplier like bearingboys on the net, , they are 1/3rd the price of simply bearings, the robbing gits.
I have ordered 2 and the total was just shy of 13 quid delivered to the northern wastelands, which even I thought was very reasonable
.
The old bearings had numbers on them, which is ok if you want to replace cheap bearings with cheap bearings, but you will want the upgrade package , wont you sir/ madam, step this way.....
Take the measurements and punt them into the bearing suppliers site, and see what skf ones are suitable. Don't get the plastic sealed ones, these are not really meant for high rpm use, you need the metal shielded ones ok?
Replacement is simply the reversal of the above, as they say in all the best motorcycle manuals.
Look at the state of this pic, you can see where the motor body has been rubbing against the housing it spins within- not good
Hopefully new bearings will help. there was a bit of play on the bottom bering to the shaft, new ones should tighten up the clearance.
Once finished, test out the fan and revel in the lack of vibes/ tthrummm, and spark up a fatty, smug in the knowledge that you have just saved yourself from shelling out 50 plus quid on a new one. woop woop!!
You are also now a qualified Fan -master, well done.
Any questions?
.
