Caframo vs Hella fans

[cabo_sailor]

Interesting thread. I put Hellas on my first boat but they seemed much louder than I expected and didn't push much air. My current boat is a 1989 model that I've owned for 15 + yrs. It came with Caframo fans and they are still going strong. If one gets noisy, it just means it's time to clean the blades. It seems accumulated crud unbalances the blades.

If ever one goes bad or I decide to add another fan it will be the Caframo. I even have one in the shower stall that runs fine.

Rich


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[sailjumanji]

Originally Posted by Jeanneau 45.2

Called and spoke with Caframo customer service whose best offer was to sell me a new fan at a discount off list that was still more than the regular price at several online retailers. No thank you to that offer ...

That must be their policy. I had a Stor-n-Dry that failed within the warranty period - actually just after three months. They replaced, but I was out the money to send them the original. Granted these things are only used 3 months out of the year (winter, in Texas.). A second Stor-in-Dry - out of the four that I purchased originally - lasted 14 calendar months, but only six months of usage. Made horrible rubbing sound. Out of their one year warranty, but they offered a replacement at discounted cost. But outrageous shipping cost they could not explain. I could buy one from Defender with shipping and still pay less. Another no than you.

[Valiant173]

We love our Caframo fans. But some of the posts are somewhat correct, longevity can be an issue when running them on high all the time. We have 9 Caframos on Paradiso and run them only on low. Living in the marina with AC to charge the batteries, 2 of our Caframos are mounted to coachroof next to the hatch-mounted AC and have been going on low 24/7 for 30 months now. In fact, the two previous fans in this location were replaced after after running 24/7 for 47 months, having failed within month of one another.

[RaymondR]

I installed three Caframo fans a couple of years ago and have not had any problems with them. I live in northern Australia so they get a fair bit of use.

Last year I installed a large 12V DC radiator fan in my forward hatch above my V berth. On 12V it roars and blasts too much air in so I run it on 6V. I was amazed at how much cooler the boat is with it running and most of the time have no need for the smaller fans around the boat to be running. I used four barrel bolts as hinges so that it is readily hinged down to allow hatch closure and can be easily removed.

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I installed three Caframo fans a couple of years ago and have not had any problems with them. I live in northern Australia so they get a fair bit of use.

Last year I installed a large 12V DC radiator fan in my forward hatch above my V berth. On 12V it roars and blasts too much air in so I run it on 6V. I was amazed at how much cooler the boat is with it running and most of the time have no need for the smaller fans around the boat to be running. I used four barrel bolts as hinges so that it is readily hinged down to allow hatch closure and can be easily removed.

I love the the idea.. Inquiring minds would like to know the amperage draw (both at 12V and 6V)!

[autumnbreeze27]

We installed 4 cafromo 757's on the boat, and we have 2 floaters.

When I bought them from WM, one was defective, had a wiring issue. Exchanged it.

Some of them are noisy when you first turn them on, but once they warm up they're quiet.

Thanks for the tip about oiling them, I will do that soon.

[Dulcesuenos]

Hellas are hella noisey, everyone ive had was very loud.

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[Capt.Don]

One of our Hella fans stopped working. Turns out the push-on spade connector inside the motor housing broke. All I can figure is vibration work-hardened the soldered male post and it broke off. I just soldered the broken wire to the circuit board.

It is pretty easy to take these apart, first remove the blade. Under the plastic cover is a lock nut. Loosen and remove the lock-nut and remove the blade. The motor and circuit board slides through the plastic housing. It is a bit tricky to get the circuit board and switch aligned - I suggest marking the orientation (I didn't and tried 3 different positions). You can also easily oil the shaft and bushings once apart.

I agree, these are noisy fans.

[Sandero]

I only have experience with Hellas. The design is reasonably attractive... with protected blades. I have 3... one at the nav station, one at the galley and one in the aft cabin. First two can face into salon. Good air flow, noisy, they vibrate the lock nuts loose. You can adjust air direction quite easily... high and low speeds.

Fans are essential... especially in hot weather with no air flow though the hatches. AC would be nice but these pretty much do the trick.

[RaymondR]

The ampage draw on the radiator fan is 10.8 amps on 12V and 4.0 amps on 6V. This is relatively high but it pushes a lot of air in. I have a speed controller kit to build when I get around to it to reduce the speed even more as it pushes a bit too much air when I am in the V berth bunk at night.

[steve77]

When we bought Orontes II, I installed four Caframo Bora fans based on Practical Sailor's comparison. I soon had several problems with failures, all of which were in the switch. Even two replacement fans (replaced by Defender since the failures were within 30 days) failed in short order. Unlike other posters, Caframo stood by their products and replaced every single one. I spoke with one of their QA folks several times (each time one failed) explaining the problems I was having. She explained they were redesigning the switch and the new design should solve the problem.

Since the last replacement I have had zero failures over the past four years. I installed a fifth unit in the galley about a year ago, and it gets used an hour or so a day. The three fans in the berths get 8-10 hours of use each night, and the one in the salon maybe an hour a day. Most of our usage is on low speed. These units move a lot of air and the higher speeds are not needed very often.

I'm very happy with the fans I have and with the support I got from Caframo.

I had Hella fans on our previous boat. I found the Turbo to be a very good fan and almost silent on low speed. I had a lot of trouble with the smaller fan, maybe it was the Jet but I can't remember. This was 17 years ago and details escape me.

Cheers!

Steve