Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Fixin' fans and fans and fans

Copacabana fans are my favorite for simple, cost, quiet, easy to clean, air movement and have an aluminium blade option. Aluminum blades are not only lighter and easier on the motor but won't rust and throw an amber ring around your living room at fan level. I have 6 ceiling fans and keeping them clean is enough without having to look for rust .... then sand and paint them.

So as much as I like Copacabana, they installed a massive amount of bad capacitors.  These are the start/run capacitors just above the motor, not the speed control on your wall switch. At first I had no idea why I had only slow for speed so I took the whole fan to an electrical motor guy.  He changed the capacitor for 100 pesos.  I took the second, third and fourth to him as well.  The fifth I was moving from my bodega to my palapa patio so it was already down and easy to take to the mechanic.  Number six I decided to just ask the mechanic if he would sell me a capacitor and I'd change it myself.  He didn't have any but suggested an electrical store that would. Sure enough and I bought 2 at 25pesos @ because my neighbors had the same problem.  We both now have fans with a full variety of speeds.


The favorite but one speed fan

New capacitor in place

Right above the motor is the white cup that just covers connectors and the capacitor. It's kind of easy to push the cup up the shaft to expose the capacitor. Cut the plastic Zip Strap, pull out the capacitor, undo the wire nuts and install the new one in reverse order. That is really all there is to it.

A two wire rectangular like the one on the right

Then comes the tricky and more expensive fans .... those of my car. I followed a delivery truck back from Colima a few days ago and thought he had the problem the way I heard the noise. As we dove up our quiet road the noise was still there. This morning I confirmed a bearing was gone in one motor and the blades were flopping around. My air conditioning and electrical guy said better to replace both as a pair and he can pick them up later in the week at a Manzanillo Junk Yard (yonke) for 800 pesos.


Radiator and Air Conditioning Condenser fans
for a 2000 Voyager

I unplugged the one fan for no further damage but when I got home the temperature spiked. First time since new that the car has over heated. No more of that !!!

1 comments:

tancho said...

Living in Mexico has caused me to repair a lot of my own devices, simply because they were too complicated or unknown to some of the repairmen. I have always been handy in lots of stuff, plumbing, electrical etc, and in the last few years now know masonry to the point of knowing stuff I really didn't want to know, but learned it to keep the workers in check or from doing half assed jobs.
And it is rewarding when you are able to do it yourself too.
A lot of that stuff is really not that difficult, just a pain in the ass.
Congratulations, now I know where to bring my fans to, too!

The construction of the house finished in April 2011 and I'm pretty much settled in. As of March 2014 I'm in preparation for rain mode for this coming summer. That includes sealing and painting things and dealing with drainage issues from last year.

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