Motoraide Heater Blower

[Tom-NC]

Hi,

I am having a problem with the blower on the Motoraide Coach Heater in my 33' Adventurer and would like to know if anyone has removed it from the coach. I did talk to Winnebago and the rep told me how to remove the heater completely. What I would like to know if anyone has been able to free up the blower without removing it. I think I can fit in the compartment where the heater is located but do not know if I can reach blower. THe blower motor is popping the fuse so it may be defective but I would like to try to free it up first.

THere was a post on this forum where someone was able to squirt some oil in there to free up the motor which would be easier if I can do it.

Thanks for any or all responses.

Tom

[tderonne]

I removed the blower in my 31Y a few months ago. I didn't remove the hot water heater. I did have the water pump out though. Mine was so tight (slide mechanism is right there) I couldn't even remove the heater housing. I had to take it all apart and remove just the blower. I left the heater core in place. It's hoses were sealed in place so I couldn't even get at the clamps.

I don't think just oiling it would have worked for me. The blower cage had moved on the shaft, as others have noted. I added a small washer that the cage will run into when it moves again. That may keep it going. As it was, the blower vanes were hitting the motor, grinding into the vanes. If I get another 6 or 7 years out of it though, I guess I'll be happy.

[Hikerdogs]

How did you manage to get the thing disassembled while still in the compartment? Ours is directly behind the water heater and is all but impossible to see let alone work on with the water heater in place. I understand that on the larger coaches there is a panel on the bottom of the compatrment that can be removed for access. On ours however you have to either cut an access hole and install a cover panel or remove the water heater.

I had the misfortune of having an elbow at the back of the water heater break a couple years ago. I had to use a mirror to see it and there was only room for one arm even with the water pump removed. What could have been a 15 minute job trned into a 2 hour job due to the confined space and contortions needed to access the part.

When the mororaid heater fan quit we were also having problems with the wiring to the water heater heating element. This time I decided to take the coach to Forest city rather than attempt the whole thing in the driveway at 30*. Originally I wanted them to just replace the motoraid fan, but when I saw a new unit and all the rivets that had to be drilled out just to disassemble it I decided it would be more cost effective to have the whole unit replaced.

I saved the old unit for use on my end loader. At least now if it has problems I can access it and repair it without disassembling the whole machine

[Tom-NC]

Hi,

Called Winnebago and they told me to disconnect the 2 water hoses that go into the heater element from the radiator which are located behind the flap behind the right wheel. Then go into the compartment where the water pump is and remove 2 screws and remove the whole unit from the coach, take the unit apart, repair the blower motor and then re-install it.

I may do that but will have to wait until weather warms up a little and may also have to take water pump out.

What I would like to do is to get my arm down through the heater opening right behind the doghouse and open the flap and see if fan unit is able to move. Right now it is popping a fuse which tends to make me believe the motor has a short in it or is just stuck.

Stay tuned and I will let you know what I find, however if someone else has any ideas I'm open to them.

[tderonne]

I won't say it was an easy job, but it wasn't impossible. Biggest thing I did was build a small platform outside the compartment level with the compartment floor. That let me lay down with my head and arms in the compartment. Mine had no rivets, just screws, lots of them.

I did the remove the floor register thing too. Even opened up the hole a smidge so I could get my elbow in. I couldn't get to anything from that side.

I think my 31y is worst case for clearance. The mechanism for my flat floor slide comes all the way across to that compartment, and is completely ahead of the step area. It's the clearance between the slide mechanism and the hot water heater that makes it impossible to remove the whole heater box. I removed some of the sheet metal that covers the slide mechanism too. Gave me just a little more room.

[zippo]

When my fan froze up I cut the register hole behind the dog house so a 4" register would fit. I could then get my hand in there to open the flap. I blindly sprayed PB Blaster penatrating oil toward the fan. I then let it sit several days and sprayed it again. I then started the fan on high and it run a little at a slow speed and popped the fuse. I then sprayed it twice more letting it sit several days between sprays, then starting it on high again and it run fine. However it did take a few times of running the fan to get the smell of the PB Blaster out of there. We owned the RV another 3 years and it always worked ok.

[depchief]

When I attempted to remove the fan assembly I had to remove everything in the water compartment, pump etc. I could then get into the space.
Did me no good as I could not move, got stuck in the opening and a neighbor had to help me get out.
Had a local RV repair do the job, the technician was a slight guy and crawled right in. He made the job look easy.
I was not unhappy about paying for his work.

If you remove make sure you seal off the heater hoses tightly to save the coolant and refill with 50/50

[DriVer]

My Coach Heater was completely replaced as a unit in UC. They don't usually fix those things since they are such a pain to get out. May as well do it right.

Coach heater came into its own this past trip. It puts out a lot of heat through the floor ducting from front to rear. We had to turn it off quite a lot it got so hot.

[DancinCampers]

Tom, Winny is correct. However when I tried it I could not get it out because the 12V locking connector/wire had very little slack & it was on the far side (next to firewall). I removed the water heater to repair my fan.