Baraldi Vent Hood Fan Stopped Working

[KirstenF]

Reaching out to the community for some guidance. Our fan stopped working this morning during breakfast. Have confirmed the fuse is good. Plus the lights still work. Instead the fan makes a tiny hum with no suction. Was thinking something was off kilter with the switch? I'm moving campsites today and hope to tinker when we get to Bryce Canyon. Argh! And thanks in advance.

This is for a 2016 International Serenity RQB.

[dbdreams]

Kirsten,
The fan on ours came loose from the motor shaft. Motor was running but not turning the fan. Pull the screen down and then the fan housing can be seen. Three or four screws hold up the housing, remove them and lower the plastic fan housing. Check to see if the motor is turning the fan. Ours had a jam nut at the top of the fan that had worked its way loose, tightened it out and the unit worked like new. Some units had a pressed on fan, if yours is of that type you might try roughing up the motor shaft a VERY little bit with a pair of pliers and press the fan back on. Hardest part on mine was putting the housing back up, lining up the screws is a pita! The whole job took 10 minutes. I think fan had been slipping a bit since new, works better than it ever did after tightening up the fan rotor!
Good luck!

[KirstenF]

Originally Posted by dbdreams

Kirsten,
The fan on ours came loose from the motor shaft. Motor was running but not turning the fan. Pull the screen down and then the fan housing can be seen. Three or four screws hold up the housing, remove them and lower the plastic fan housing. Check to see if the motor is turning the fan. Ours had a jam nut at the top of the fan that had worked its way loose, tightened it out and the unit worked like new. Some units had a pressed on fan, if yours is of that type you might try roughing up the motor shaft a VERY little bit with a pair of pliers and press the fan back on. Hardest part on mine was putting the housing back up, lining up the screws is a pita! The whole job took 10 minutes. I think fan had been slipping a bit since new, works better than it ever did after tightening up the fan rotor!
Good luck!

Thank you! That was exactly the problem. There was a nut on top of the fan which I hope was a jam nut. I gave that a little tighten and it seems to be working. And you are right, it was a PITA re realign and get back on. Need to be a contortionist ��

[dbdreams]

Glad it worked,
Love things I can figure out and fix ourselves!
How is Utah right now?

[KirstenF]

Utah has been great and not too terribly hot. Can't handle the heat. We moved on to Capitol Reef today and hoped to boondock there. Unfortunately the location required way too much clearance to exit the road so we had to look for a campground. The place is overrun by people like us. Ended up finding a spot in Hanksville.

New issue - lost the pull out pin to my blue ox that allows me to release the chain! Argh. Fortunately wedging an allen wrench allowed me to release it but do these things ever end #@%^

[Czarina]

Thank you so much for this thread, I just have to report that my dealer service dept told me the whole hood would need to replaced at over $500. I found this thread and sure enough it took me a whole 2 minutes to tighten that bolt about 45 degrees. I could not believe that after maybe 10 hours of use in total this whole unit would fail (and after the warranty expiration) and my only option was to replace it with the same POS! Thank you thank you!

[kittmaster]

Your problem may be deeper, if you didn't find the nut loose and then it "magically" started working.....well you've allowed enough time to let the high heat sensor cool off during the time you dismantled it to see.

While some units may have the mechanical issue, others including myself have found that there is a heat sensor that shuts down the motor.

If it continues to work going forward great.....but if you cook and find it happens again....then this fix isn't your root cause, but it can be fixed if you are handy using the information in this very long but informative thread:

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f51...ms-140495.html

Let us know how you make out.

[PDX007]

One more nugget of info regarding the thermal cut off, our fan began cutting out randomly regardless of heat build up, sometimes it wouldn't work when dead cold. After disassembly, I found the thermal cut off was the problem, but not for the reason you might think... vibration would cause it to cutout. While it was crimped solidly on the fan motor it seems there was a short inside of the cutoff itself and the vibration of the fan would intermittently cause it to fail. Removed it and haven't had a problem since YMMV

[stevejones]

Tagging on to this thread. Our Baraldi Swing fan stopped working yesterday. The light works, but not the fan. We had Airstream remove the thermal cut off device at the Factory Service Center a while back so that is not a cause. I removed the plastic shroud and fan motor assembly and checked operation of the fan and it spun freely and the nut was tight. So I replaced the fan and shroud and removed the panel covering access to the switches and wires and the light unit. I inspected all wire connections and they looked good. I switched the fan on and moved and jiggled all the wires to see if a bad connection would reveal itself but no joy. Since the switch connection plugs for the light (that works) and the fan are the same, just different colors, I unplugged the power plug for both and plugged the fan into the light switch plug, tried the light switch, and lo and behold the fan worked. So it seems the switch itself has gone bad. This is the LAST thing I would have expected. So it looks like I need a new switch assembly. Since the switches themselves are sold as spare parts I assume they do go bad.

Has anyone else seen the switches on these units going bad? Or is there something else anyone can think of I should check?

Thanks,

Steve

[kittmaster]

Originally Posted by stevejones

Tagging on to this thread. Our Baraldi Swing fan stopped working yesterday. The light works, but not the fan. We had Airstream remove the thermal cut off device at the Factory Service Center a while back so that is not a cause. I removed the plastic shroud and fan motor assembly and checked operation of the fan and it spun freely and the nut was tight. So I replaced the fan and shroud and removed the panel covering access to the switches and wires and the light unit. I inspected all wire connections and they looked good. I switched the fan on and moved and jiggled all the wires to see if a bad connection would reveal itself but no joy. Since the switch connection plugs for the light (that works) and the fan are the same, just different colors, I unplugged the power plug for both and plugged the fan into the light switch plug, tried the light switch, and lo and behold the fan worked. So it seems the switch itself has gone bad. This is the LAST thing I would have expected. So it looks like I need a new switch assembly. Since the switches themselves are sold as spare parts I assume they do go bad.

Has anyone else seen the switches on these units going bad? Or is there something else anyone can think of I should check?

Thanks,

Steve

Get some electrical contact cleaner and shoot it into the switch and rock it back and forth... unless the sliders are damaged, it should clear any buildup on the contacts and restore the switch to normal.

[stevejones]

Originally Posted by kittmaster

Get some electrical contact cleaner and shoot it into the switch and rock it back and forth... unless the sliders are damaged, it should clear any buildup on the contacts and restore the switch to normal.

Worth a try. I've got some DeOxit with me. I'm also going to try and use my multitester to check for voltage on the switch.

[Saluda372]

Ours died right away, luckily warranty.

[kittmaster]

Originally Posted by stevejones

Worth a try. I've got some DeOxit with me. I'm also going to try and use my multitester to check for voltage on the switch.

If you can disconnect the switch on both sides via a connector.....then use the resistance settings.....OL is open when the switch is OFF, when switch is closed, the value should be around .5 ohms or less when the switch is in the ON position.

That will give you a proper metric of the switches terminal conditions.

[Choogs83]

Thanks as well, read this thread and had that baby fixed in minutes!! Ours may have been self induced as we forgot to open vent!! Also, ironically we’re in green river, UT!!! Headed for SLC tomorrow!! Thanks again y’all!!

[LightOfWeigh]

I tightened this nut a few years ago, but this time the nut has cracked, on its way to splitting in half. Seems to be an unusual nut. I thought it was a 5/8 - 24, but the threading seems more than fine. Anyone know what type of nut I should be looking for? Thank you.

[LightOfWeigh]

It's now officially a split nut. The receiving screw on the squirrel cage definitely needs a specialty nut. Any replacement ideas? Compression fittings at Lowes were not a match.

[SSquared]

The fan is Italian, so the nut is probably metric. 5/8 inch is 15.875 mm. Do you have enough threads showing on the shaft to be able to count threads per mm/cm?