Generator Fan Blower

[Richard Barnes]

After running over a truck tire that disentigrated in front of me, my generator baffle was pretty much flattened. The generator shut down and the rear a/c shut down with a P-5 warning light. I understand that the baffle is critical to proper functioning of both and Jon has sent me the contact information to order a new baffle.

The next problem is that I can't get the blower to come on at all now. The generator starts fine but no fan. I've reset the breakers on the generator and checked the fuses located on the generator and everything looks fine.

Am I missing a fuse or breaker or do I have a more serious problem? Thanks for any help or advice.

[Richard Barnes]

I also checked the fuses for the "evacuator fans" (located in the bay with the radiator) and they were both okay. Thanks for any suggestions.

[phorner]

Richard,

I had a problem with my generator cooling fan and it ended up being the connection of the Battery Watchdog ribbon wire between the Watchdog panel and the box containing the generator controls.

Have you confirmed that you have voltage to the blower motor? If not, the next place I would look into is the Liberty Battery Watchdog system. Once you open the gray box containing containing the controls, there are a couple of small fuses that you can check. There is also a way to jumper between one of the terminals and ground which should allow the blower to work by by-passing the Watchdog controls.

In my case, I turned the watchdog off using the toggle switch and then removed the ribbon wire from the black Battery Watchdog box. After reconnection and returning the toggle switch to the "normal" position, my problem was solved. The predominate theory is that my ribbon wire connection had some how become either loose or slightly corroded.

Hopefully your fix will be as simple.

Bill Dougherty at Liberty Coach in Chicago talked me through this while I was working on diagnosing this problem and he knew my bus as if he had just put it together. It wouldn't hurt to give him a call.

[ajducote]

I doubt this is your problem, but it may be the "start capacitor" for the fan motor. That is what was wrong with mine when the fan stopped working. My "start capacitor" went bad, looking at it, I could not see a problem. Once I compared it to the new one, I could see that it was just slightly swollen. I replaced it and the fan started right up.

[phorner]

Here's a link to the post regarding my generator blower problem:

http://forum.prevostownersgroup.com/...-has-a-hiccup-.....

[truk4u]

Richard,

Any chance the gator you hit caused damage to the squirrel cage motor by hitting the screen in the floor?

[Richard Barnes]

Richard,

Any chance the gator you hit caused damage to the squirrel cage motor by hitting the screen in the floor?

I don't know Tom but will look this afternoon. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

If the generatator is run without the baffle, the heated exhaust air recirculates and the blower motor thermal overload protection whill shut down the blower motor. If the baffle has been missing for a long time and the blower motor has been cycling on the thermal overload there is a possibility the thermal oveload has failed in the open position. It was not designed to be the on-off switch so multiple on-off cycles could damage it.

I am not saying that is the issue, but it is one of the potential problems that should be investigated. The baffle is a critical part of the generator cooling system.

[gmcbuffalo]

Richard I was having a problem with the fan not stay on and I end up replacing the motor that turns the squirrel cage. I would overheat and shut down.

[merle&louise]

Someone told me that I can test my generator water pump by removing the thermostat and running the generator with the radiator cap off to see if the water is "flowing" at a good rate.

I did that today and the water in the radiator was not moving!

Is there anything else besides a water pump that could be causing this?

I priced a water pump for a Yanmar diesel engine - $446

The generator is a 20 KW Kohler.