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HELP!!!Generator Fan Circuit Breaker Tripping
Appreciate any help as we are set to get on the road in 6 days…
My Power Tech 17.5 kW Generator (3,000+ hours), faithfully serviced, abruptly overheated and shut itself off as it is supposed to at 235 degrees. As I started working through the problem I first checked coolent level which was fine. Then, if I were smart, I would have ensured that the breaker to the fan hadn’t tripped but I didnt. So I proceded to change the termostat. Started generator and temp started rising. Then it occured to me to check the fan which in my 93 CC 40′ XL is completely inaccessable. However I noted no air coming from underneath the coach where the fan should have been putting out air. Checked the breaker for the fan and it had tripped, although the breaker to the coach remained on. I flipped it on and the fan started right up and the generator remained at proper operating temp. But, then the fan breaker tripped again, about 3 minutes later. Suspected that the generator was being overloaded (althougth that shoud not be the case since it had run fine the last 3000 hours with the same draws on power) I flipped the coach breaker off and kept the fan breaker on. So at this point the generator is only powering its own fan and not the coach. About 15 minutes passed and the fan breaker tripped again. So, it seems impossible that the breaker is tripping due to an overload situation. Could it be a bad breaker or is it possibly due to a problem with the fan or wiring of the fan? I am hoping it is a breaker because that is accessible. If it is the fan I suspect the genrator will have to be pulled to replace it. If that is the case it is going to be a really hot trip throught the southwest next week. Any help appreciated. Mike
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13 Replies
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It may be a weak breaker or when the fan motor heats up it is drawing too much current which means a new motor for the fan or can possibly be re built. Next time you run it see if you can hear the fan change pitch or sound different than it does when starting from being completely cold.
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You wouldn’t know of any way to get to the fan other then pulling the generator would you in Country Coach? Thanks
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Mike, I had a 1990 XL 40 CC in which the generator sat crossways in the second bay. It was on a slide acessed from the street side and cooled by a big squirel-cage fan that pulled air through the compartment and exited near the driver side. If you have a setup like that, you can probably remove some of the cabinetry on the driver side to access the fan. It was pretty easy on mine. However, I know CC changed to a different setup around 93 because the one I described took up almost the entire second bay all the way across the bus. Yours may be different. Hope this helps!
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Mike,
I would start it and check the amperage draw from between the breaker and the fan, before it trips the breaker. Could be a weak breaker, or a fan motor going bad.
Hopefully, just the breaker.
On mine, power for the fan comes directly from the input side of the main breaker that feeds the bus. Then through two in line fuses for each leg going to the fan.
I would unhook fan, and check wiring too.
Call and talk to Jeff Jones at Powertech, he is very good. 352-435-4416
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We had a similar breaker issue on our Power Tech 15KW. Generator would start up,run fine, then shutdown radiator blower quit when breaker tripped. We would refill with coolant, start up and it would run fine thru the night.
increasing difficult to keep running, so off to the experts
Turns out voltage regulator on the electrical box mounted on the genset, was bad. Replaced with new regulator, and tech made some voltage output adjustments to it, now problem since
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Jim and Chris : did you have separate breakers for the fan and coach? I can’t find anyone in central Illinois willing to work on a power tech so I’m trying to get the bottom of of this on my own. Thanks
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If you work on your gen make sure you check the bearing , about 3000 hours I would replace it they are cheap, if it goes out you may need to get new stater that costs lots of money , just make sure you check it real good!!!!!
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If you can easily get at the wires to or from the CB you can check the current draw to see if the breaker is bad or if it is the fan motor.
There has to be easy access to the fan motor. Most of the converters did a god job designing the coaches and they would not create the need to pull the entire generator just to service the fan motor. If CC did that let me know because I need ammunition to use against Buddy when he picks on my Liberty.
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I would change out the fan breaker and eliminate that possible problem, as that’s the easiet one to fix. Then if the new breaker trips, you know you have a fan motor problem.
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Thanks for all the suggestions. I will replace the breaker and see how it goes although I suspect that is to easy to be the answer. The fan is on the other side of the bay..at the center of the coach. I can see the radiator beyond the genny on the back wall. I tried going through both adjoining bays to get to the fan to no avail…even tearing out all of the drawers in the adjoining bay but no access. The bay opposite the genny has inverters / house batteries which I really don’t want to try and remove. I am not sure how they expect you to service the fan…perhaps from underneath the coach where the air is expelled?
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I’ve been measuring the draw from fan now for 30 min and the fan draws 3.9 – 4 A. Genny is up to operating temp. Now seems fine. I know better then to believe that that is true. After fiddling with the breaker wires wires the breaker did not trip. I’ll put in a new breaker just in case.
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Mike,
A lot of the fan motors used on our coaches would benefit from an occasional drop of oil. If there is a way to access the fan motor you may find the solution is to lube the fan motor bearings although at this point replacing the motor may turn out to be the best option for long term reliability.
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It might be accessable from underneath the coach.
Where the deflector is mounted to direct the air flow to the back of the coach, it might be removeable to access the radiator and fan. I haven’t ever really looked closely at mine the see.
Trying to get to the fan in the gen bay would require me to hire some little person. (being politically correct)
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