Blowers not working.

[bobcinga]

Vessel- This is on a 2006 41 CMY with twin gas engines. It has four blowers, four breakers on helm breaker panel, one blower switch on instrument panel (main on and off for all four), and one switch on the dc panel in the salon you can use to turn on blower prior to starting genset.

Problem - tried to turn fans on. All four breaker switch’s on, main power for dc panel on, instrument panel switch turned on. Fire extinguisher light comes on, light in instrument switch on- nothing from blowers.

Tried with switch on dc panel in salon- no light on switch and no blowers

Read in forum about blower #1 must be on, so tried, nothing, then #2. It ran! Three-nothing. Four-nothing

Started engines. Usually light on instrument switch comes on when engines are on. Blower still ran but no,light

Turned off engine and blower switch #1 & #2. Tried to turn blower on again, nothing, tried all sorts of combinations - nothing. Thought a relay might have overheated, so waited a while- nothing.

So, I’m sure I have power at main dc panel on switch. (Horns and everything else works) Pretty sure I have power at four blower switches, (a blower ran) at least in the first one because light comes on in instrument panel switch. Pretty sure in at least the manual on position I have power at the instrument panel switch.

I don’t think all four blowers would die at once. And # 2 blower worked at least for a little while. The light for the blower switch in the main dc panel does not come on in any configuration.

I’ve read about relays in these forums. Are they next to the blower motors in the bilge?

My first mate and I are 95% sure when we got back to the dock, yesterday, no blowers were on. I don’t recall turning them off. They are usually so loud you can’t forget to turn them off. I did run them for four minutes prior to departing and all was fine.

Thoughts?

[Midnightsun]

Break out the volt meter and check the main dash switch you refer to for power entering and power exiting the switch when turned on. Maybe there is a breaker or fuse for the main switch?

[tomschauer]

With four blowers, four breakers and two switches, there has to be at least one, most likely two relays somewhere.

[bobcinga]

Thanks Hans.i was thinking it was a breaker too. But when that one unit started working again, it kind of blew that theory. Breakers don’t reset automatically. That’s why I was leaning towards a relay. Just wondered if any other Carver owners had any similar experiences.

[bud37]

Almost sounds like a bad switch to me. I would also check behind the panel where the breakers are as the wiring may packed in there with lots of tension.... , maybe a cracked/broken connection. Happened to a few of us.

Do you have the wiring schematic in your owner's guide ?

[bobcinga]

The wiring schematic is pretty simple and doesn’t show all the components. That schematic refers to another “blower” schematic that is not in the manual. Carver doesn’t have it either.
I had a tech at our marina look at it. He tapped on one blower and it started up, so may be just a bad blowers. Will let board know when we figure it out

[bobcinga]

As promised, here’s the solution. Bad blowers. Yes, all four! We kind of think it’s only been running one blower for quite some time. At most, both port side may have been running at some point, but pretty sure neither starboard blower had been working For awhile. All had power going to them. If you tapped on the case, the starboard blowers would squeak for a second or two and then freeze.

Solution was to replace all four blowers, relays were fine. All good now.

[Midnightsun]

Love it when the solutions are posted. Thanks.

[Tireless]

Thanks for the update. I have two that need to go this spring as well. When I hit them they turn, but not much. I guess they get gummed up due to dust or bearings get old.

Greg

[kwkirkwood]

I’m having a similar but slightly different problem and need help. We’re a few days into a week long trip. In my case the lights on both the helm panel switch and the salon dc panel do light up perfectly but no blowers spin. Blowers have worked for the 5 months I’ve owned the boat until today although I never verified before that all 4 were spinning so there’s a chance that I’ve only had one spinning and it finally died. I’ll add that flipping either the helm or salon switch or ignition switch on does engage the relay in the Fireboy engine fire suppression system, I can hear that relay go on and off. The schematic implies that there might be another relay in the system. Does anybody know if and where the blower power relay(s) is/are? I have a 2012 41 cmy with gas engines.

The blowers spin freely when spun by hand and look pristine. I haven’t wanted to clip the wires to put a meter on them because reattaching will be difficult in that space. I’ll also add that the wires leading up to each fan are large gauge wires (brown with yellow stripe and yellow) and there are no large gauge wires exiting the Fireboy (under the dash on the helm) which is leading me to believe that there is another relay somewhere that over been unable to locate. I’ll take any thoughts, ideas, or hints but I’m mainly looking for that relay.