Ecofan Refurbishment

With many live-aboard boats being heated with diesel or solid fuel heaters that have no provision for warm air circulation, the Ecofan has been a big hit. It moves a surprising amount of warm air and requires no electrical power at all, being powered by the temperature difference between its baseplate (which must be sitting on a hot surface) and the cooling fins on the top.

Like most things however, they don't last forever. I was unaware that they could be refurbished... In another instance of excellent customer service, Adam on nb Briar Rose shows us that they can:

Last week I cut down a cardboard box to about the right size, found some padding material, and posted our Ecofan off to Calfire for some checks.  This past winter it's taken longer and longer to start spinning, and less and less time to stop again.  The deal is that they take a look, email back with information on what's wrong and a price, and then you decide whether you want them to fix it or not.

I think it was Thursday that I got it in the post, second class, for just under a fiver.  On Monday, while I was sleeping between night shifts, an email arrived saying there was something wrong with the motor, and it would cost just over £23 to fix, including return postage.  Yesterday, I phoned and paid.

And today, the fan arrived back, in much more professional packing than I'd managed.

Apparently it's been tested and works -- starting to spin in 1'45", and spinning well in 4'.  I'm hoping it'll be several months before we get the opportunity to test it ourselves.  Assuming it really is fixed, that's what I call good service.