Bilge Blower Replacement on a 530

[Cricket]

Hi Folks,

So, none of my four bilge blowers on my 2003 530 are working. It me a while to find them. The are wedged between the fuel tanks and the hull with essentially no way to access them that I can see. Has anyone attempted such a repair?

many thanks
Tim

[tomschauer]

If none of the four are working odds are you have a tripped breaker of they are switched off some how. I doubt they all failed at the same time. Can you access one of them to check for voltage?

[Midnightsun]

I have 4 blowers, all have breakers which as mentioned should be verified. My blowers sound like little jet engines that have just ingested a flock of Seagulls. I guess the bearings go after X amount of hours and they get really loud. Mine are a tight fit but accessible, another boat project.

[Cricket]

I agree that it is suspicious that all have failed. However, the aft head blower and the blower over the range have also failed so perhaps these were subpar to begin with. It is just as difficult to get to the wiring as the blowers themselves. As best I can tell the only way to access them would be to cut a hole in the cockpit above them. Alternatively, one could fit blowers on to the ends of the pipes that enter the engine room just aft of the engines. This would have been a much better place to put them.

[bud37]

Source of the post I agree that it is suspicious that all have failed. However, the aft head blower and the blower over the range have also failed so perhaps these were subpar to begin with. It is just as difficult to get to the wiring as the blowers themselves. As best I can tell the only way to access them would be to cut a hole in the cockpit above them. Alternatively, one could fit blowers on to the ends of the pipes that enter the engine room just aft of the engines. This would have been a much better place to put them.

I agree, good idea to abandon the impossible to get to ones and reroute hoses to a more accessible location for the new blower motors, hose can be run easily to where it needs to be IMO.....

[km1125]

The nice thing about diesels is you don't have to route the blower to the lowest part of the bilge like you do with gas. You have a lot more flexibility in where you and mount the blower and where you can run the 'plumbing'!!

[rcoff512]

On my 45 Voyager there is a negative (ground) terminal block outside of side of my batteries. My blowers are mounted on a wooden mounting outside each fuel tank with the negative wire from the junction block to the blowers. My 4 blowers are also on separate breakers for each as are yours. The only way I can see that all go out together is perhaps you've lost a common ground.

The power for them also is also controlled by the ignition switches and then through the Fireboy (engine room automatic fire extinguisher) system so in case of engine room fire they shut down as to not feed the engine room with more oxygen during a fire situation.

You have several areas to check for + 12V continuity and ground continuity. Be careful probing the Fireboy system, I've heard they can be set off inadvertently.

Rich

[mjmason1]

All four blowers were dead on my 450. When I took them out they fell apart. They are on the outboard side of the fuel tanks. The only way to access them was to Gumby my way in and lay on the engine exhaust. To make it simpler, I took out the sensors and direct wired to the breakers. Now we have to remember to flip the breakers while the engines are running.

[mjmason1]

All four blowers were dead on my 450. When I took them out they fell apart. They are on the outboard side of the fuel tanks. The only way to access them was to Gumby my way in and lay on the engine exhaust. To make it simpler, I took out the sensors and direct wired to the breakers. Now we have to remember to flip the breakers while the engines are running.

[mjmason1]

All four blowers were dead on my 450. When I took them out they fell apart. They are on the outboard side of the fuel tanks. The only way to access them was to Gumby my way in and lay on the engine exhaust. To make it simpler, I took out the sensors and direct wired to the breakers. Now we have to remember to flip the breakers while the engines are running.