Avionics blower fan

[Eduleo]

Hi all,

 

My ‘87 J has lost its blower fan. It made a horrible grinding noise for a little while then it died. 

Avionics shop tech in Lancaster PA said that they are not necessary since many boxes have their own internal fans, but everything on the panel feels really hot to the touch, and the thought of internal components cooking during Summer, reducing their lifetimes or burning all together, scares me.

The panel has 2 GNS430’s, gma340  audio panel, GTX330, Jpi700, fuel scan, etc. , so a lot of heat being generated.

Should I replace it immediately? Forget about it? Wait until annual? any advice is very much appreciated.

Best

Eduardo

[KSMooniac]

I would replace it immediately. They don't cost very much and as you noted, there is a lot of heat and it is the enemy of electronics.

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[Eduleo]

I think you’re right, Scott.

I’ll call them tomorrow. Has anyone had any experience replacing these? Are these Mooney specific, hard to find parts? Does it take several hours to replace?

Thanks

Eduardo

[Danb]

I sure would, heat kills avionics. I’m not in love with the aforementioned shop,

.

[ArtVandelay]

My J has a hose connected to the copilot air vent in the footwell, it provides cooling air to the back of my avionics (which are all modern), I removed my blower fan. Non of my avionics trays have the attachment for a hose.

 

 

Tom

 

[PTK]

That's horrible advice from an avionics shop! Replace it immediately and also direct both eyeball vents to the back of the avionics. You may also want to attach scat ducting to these vents and place it back there behind the avionics. You can never have enough cooling, especially in the summer. 

[M20F]

30yrs of flying with zero avionics fans.  GTN650, 430, 500, MVP50, etc and no cooling fan. I don’t know how I have made it.  The modern radios will turn off before they overheat (ala iPhone) but have never seen it.  What I definitely don’t recommend is point anything from the outside where water might come in and end up on your electronics. 

Never had a radio melt yet. 

[KSMooniac]

Avionics fans are standard items...might be 12V or 24V versions, as well as differing numbers of outlets. Doing the contortionist act to R&R one from a typical Mooney location is the worst part.

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[bradp]

My setup is - everything that has a hose attachment has its own internal fan.  I have the outside air vent that blows onto the back of the avionics (ORM setup) and if it’s really hot I’ll direct the eyeball vent to the back of the radios. I’ve thought about putting in another blower for years but never got around to it...

[RobertGary1]

On 7/14/2019 at 4:10 PM, PTK said:

That's horrible advice from an avionics shop! Replace it immediately and also direct both eyeball vents to the back of the avionics. You may also want to attach scat ducting to these vents and place it back there behind the avionics. You can never have enough cooling, especially in the summer. 

Those eyeballs come with water in the rain. Most shops don’t even add fans for a full Garmin stack  

The new planes have fans that just force cabin air around them  

-Robert 

Edited July 16, 2019 by RobertGary1

[Jer]

I have been having some overheating issues on several components.  I can't hear a fan and the sound doesn't change when the blower breaker is pulled.  Can anyone offer advice on where the blower is found?

 

Jer

[carusoam]

Confirm you are discussing an M20J...

And if your avionics are still original...

It is possible things have moved...

Most often, the blower has hoses to re-direct the flow towards the avionics...

If you know where the avionics are... you can follow the hoses...

Following the wires from the CB can give a hint as well...

 

Some modern Mooneys have a blower for the windshield defrost...

If you can hear it... it won’t be too hard to find...

 

PP thoughts only, trying to help move the conversation along...

Best regards,

-a-

[Mark89114]

Not to hijack this much....but does the ovation have a cooling fan?  

[ArtVandelay]

Mine had it under the panel between the footwells. Pretty sure it wasn’t a factory installation.

[thomas1142]

I’ve being having issues with my 7” G3X freezing and rebooting since installation. I keep telling the avionics shop that I think the unit is overheating. They keep ordering new unit from Garmin. Last flight, with sun beating down on us, we placed a towel on the glare shield  and the unit functioned fine the entire flight. This only happens on the right side panel with the 7” G3X, the 10” on the left side has never had an issue. Where is this blower fan located?

[ArtVandelay]

I’ve being having issues with my 7” G3X freezing and rebooting since installation. I keep telling the avionics shop that I think the unit is overheating. They keep ordering new unit from Garmin. Last flight, with sun beating down on us, we placed a towel on the glare shield  and the unit functioned fine the entire flight. This only happens on the right side panel with the 7” G3X, the 10” on the left side has never had an issue. Where is this blower fan located?

Turn on avionics without the engine running, you’ll hear it running.

[Yetti]

There is also "forced" air induction from the side vents.   Some have it on the Starboard vent.   Look for clear plastic tubing coming off the top of the vent with the eyeball vent.

[GeeBee]

When it comes to electronics, unless you have vacuum tubes, cooler is better.

 

[A64Pilot]

 Blower is pretty easy to find, it’s that small box  with likely about four red hoses coming off of it, they could be black hoses too.

‘Except for accessing the thing, it’s easy to R&R.

However they are sold by the number of ports they have, so look under there and count them before you try to order. but I believe it’s OK to cap off any unused ones too.

[A64Pilot]

4 hours ago, GeeBee said:

When it comes to electronics, unless you have vacuum tubes, cooler is better.

 

You know, I’m going to say maybe even then, my 1946 C-140 has an air scoop for avionics cooling, and I’d think in 1946 what there was, had tubes?

back of the scoop has a small hole in it to let out water, and it seems to work

[bradp]

My 1976 has the single tube from the right footwell NACA duct.  On my last two flights exactly 1.5 hrs in  GTX330ES rebooted.  It was hot to the touch.  Similar environmental conditions.  Also my wife was / is always chilly so we did heat on the floor (and so I don’t suffocate, some cool fresh air from the ceiling). 
 

I found that my defrost tube had worked loose the the heater was spilling air.  
 

It may be a very good idea to have a blower installed.  I might recommend this one from spruce and some 5/8 tubing.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/lonestarEntertainBlower.php?clickkey=3239555

 

 

 

[thomas1142]

On 4/30/2021 at 2:11 PM, bradp said:

My 1976 has the single tube from the right footwell NACA duct.  On my last two flights exactly 1.5 hrs in  GTX330ES rebooted.  It was hot to the touch.  Similar environmental conditions.  Also my wife was / is always chilly so we did heat on the floor (and so I don’t suffocate, some cool fresh air from the ceiling). 
 

I found that my defrost tube had worked loose the the heater was spilling air.  
 

It may be a very good idea to have a blower installed.  I might recommend this one from spruce and some 5/8 tubing.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/lonestarEntertainBlower.php?clickkey=3239555

 

 

 

Where's the blower in the pic? How is it connected, does it get air from the outside?

[thomas1142]

On 7/14/2019 at 5:49 PM, ArtVandelay said:

My J has a hose connected to the copilot air vent in the footwell, it provides cooling air to the back of my avionics (which are all modern), I removed my blower fan. Non of my avionics trays have the attachment for a hose.

 

 

Tom

 

Does this mean that you don't have air from the event that is able to be directed to you? Is the hose directed/connected to any specific item or just points to the avionics in general?

[bradp]

46 minutes ago, thomas1142 said:

Does this mean that you don't have air from the event that is able to be directed to you? Is the hose directed/connected to any specific item or just points to the avionics in general?

The oem hose is separate from the cabin environmental controls.  It just comes in through a naca duct forward of the door.  No valve / mixer or anything.  Just spits outside air behind the panel. 
 

If you choose a blower, it is like a server  case fan. It grabs ambient air from the cabin and pushes it to the 5/8 hose receivers on the back of most 1990-2000s era avionics.  My newest radio (GNC255) does not have a hose - it has its own fan instead. 

[bradp]

Speaking of blowers - here’s my cooling solution for my wife’s reef aquarium.  It was getting too hot, so a 12V boat bilge fan, PWM controller in lieu of a rheostat, and a WiFi heater / cooler thermostat that’s home brewers like to use. It was my Mother’s Day gift to her :-).  

I used the same basic setup that I used for my 12V frankencooller (ice chest AC unit)