Crap SPAL Fanblade Wear - anyone near Worcester WR4 9PT ?

[rfs1957]

I suspect others may end up with - or may already have - this problem, and it's one I only discovered by accident when overhauling the radiator and ancilliaries. With hindsight I should have picked up on raised noise-levels ...........

My SPAL fan is 15 years old but has in reality done very little work ............ however, the blades are ready to chuck away as their central core has worn where they're mounted on the motor shaft, which is only 8mm in diameter and very short.



The buffeting the fan suffers when it's stationary, but the car is moving, must makes it chafe and rock permanently, and the anchorage and stability provided by this weedy little pin and a simple circlip (with zero clamping effect) are pretty pathetic.



The result is that the blades get sloppy on the core, and now touch the housing and the shroud.



So it just needs a new fan-blade, even if the design is basically crap.

Destination SPAL UK in Worcester, blades in the post, polite letter asking to buy new blades.

Sadly, if predictably, SPAL UK trot out the usual BS about " .......... totally appreciate your view on replacing just the fan blade .........." HOWEVER "......... we do not offer spare components for our products as we believe it compromises the integrity of the unit ............"

Read "managing spares doesn't bring much margin to the business and paying lip-service to ecology and recycling is enough to put a gloss on a manufacturer without actually having to do anything".

I replied that "I am reluctant to be forced to "consume" a new product when there is absolutely nothing wrong with 90% of the assembly, simply because the manufacturer is too lazy and too cynical to offer me the opportunity to buy a spare part, and at a fair price, so I would ask you to please be so kind as to post the old fan-blade back to me, to a UK address to keep matters simple for you."

Anyway, the jobsworth on the other end is now playing games - If you wish to collect (my bold) the fan blade you have returned to us, I can package it ready for you.

Touché.

So if anyone local could help me call their bluff, I would indeed collect it from them, post pictures of the blades themselves, which I didn't take, and then repair it (Araldite and tighter shimming will make it last another 15 years).

It's not the money, it's the pain of throwing technology and materials in the bin.

[Polse7317]

"obsolescence programmée" planned obsolescence ...

[rfs1957]

Forgot to post that I found a delightful Forum-member down that way who went the extra mile AND sorted out getting the part back to me.

Step forward johnetype.

[steve3.8]

Rory , I did'nt see this post first time round last year , but yes the spal spindle location is crap--- 8mm plastic bore for a 15" fan ?
Mine is the same although a fossway , replaced within the 1st year i assumed without dismantling it was bearing failure .
It failed again at 16 months old to which Simon answered its out of warranty and he had no other failures.
So i set about checking it myself ,on investigation it was not the bearings which were failing but the fan blades chewing into the guard , the fan blade location on the spindle being the issue.
My solution was to tap a 4mm thread in the spindle to the depth of the cross pin , make a stepped washer that would clamp the blade assembly squarely back against the cross pin using a caphead ,i left the circlip in situ fitted as a back up. The blade assembly is now firmly fixed with no wobble.






Cheers Steve

[rfs1957]

Pleased I am not the only one to have issues with this.

Yours is a much better solution than mine.

How did you manage to hold the spindle whilst you drilled and tapped ?

By holding the fan blade maybe ?

[steve3.8]

Yes i just held the fan blade , the armature is soft and easy to drill.