Bathroom fan - AI-19

[goingon19]

What’s been your experience with the bathroom fan in the Airstream Interstate 19? We bought ours new (2023) almost two years ago and have used it a lot—including being in the van almost full time since last July.

The bathroom fan has sounded rough for a while, and lately it has had an attitude about turning on. Sometimes it does, with increasing frequency it doesn’t, and now and then it turns on 45 (or more) minutes later. Is it time for a new fan or maybe just a loose wire in the switch?

[JimMartin]

Just a guess, but I'd put my money on the fan motor failing. Try putting a meter on the power lines going to the fan to see if it's getting power despite not starting right away. If you've got power and the fan doesn't start, it's time to replace the fan. If you don't have power at the fan, it's an electrical issue somewhere else.

[goingon19]

Thanks! Could it be “only” the switch? Is there a good way to test for that?

[JimMartin]

It's certainly possible that the switch is failing.
The challenge will be getting to the switch wires. I took a look at ours (we have the same rig) and from what i can tell, you'd probably need to remove the fan in order to get at the terminals or wires for the switch:

That being said, if I were in the same situation, I'd probably just order another fan. If it turns out that it is just the switch, I would replace the switch and keep the old fan as a spare.

[Tim A.]

Years ago the switch for our bathroom fan (looks like yours although 20 years older) slowly died producing symptoms similar to those you describe. Changing the switch required patience, but was ultimately possible.

Tim

[goingon19]

Thanks Jim and Tim! I'm not a big DYI type guy, so I'm worried about going through a lot of work to change switches and not have it solve the problem. I like the idea of getting a new fan and then saving the old one as a spare/emergency if it turns out to be the switch.