Any good ways to carry fan blades in your van?

[Cajunhvac]

I like to keep my van organized and I think I do a pretty good job at it. Everything has it's place and in general all is well.

One thing that I have always had trouble with is condenser fan blades. I stock a few in 20" and 24" sizes and I have never come up with a good solution for carrying them so that they don't get damaged, aren't in the way, and don't rattle together. I usually just wind up laying them down on top of other stuff but I though that maybe someone had a brilliant idea for storing them.

So... any ideas?

[craig1]

Do you change many? I change so few that its not even worth carrying them. I would leave them at the shop.

[cmp240]

I ussally only change 1 when I absolutely cant get it off of the shaft with my pullers,only happens very rarely,if I do need one,order it,hve it delivered to custs hse,go back and install

[Cajunhvac]

I go through quite a few. I work for a company that does telecom work and 90% of what I work on is Bard, Marvair, Eubank, etc vertical package units. What I lack in variety of units I make up for in volume.

I'd guess that I use between 3 and 8 24" blades per week. Some of those have flung themselves apart before I arrive at the site. Others have cracks I find during inspection, and the rest are changed out when I replace the motor if they appear to be "old" (these blades come apart often enough that it's cheap insurance to just replace the blade with the motor)

Anyway, I was hoping someone might have a really cool way of storing these. Maybe something like a piece of allthread rod hanging from the ceiling of the van or from the side wall that you slid through the hub and clamped down with a wing nut (that idea has it's problems which is why I didn't do it) Another idea might be a plywood box lined with foam that you set the blades into and separate them with sheets of thin foam so they don't rattle around.

Come on guys, I'm not the brightest bulb in the box. Someone must have already figured this out.

[JEG8233]

We don't usually change enough of them to keep them on the truck. The shop has a well stocked supply so I can go pick one up as needed.

Now if I had to carry around a ton of them like you have to then I would look at that box with sheets of foam inbetween.

[jtstuart]

my idea i had if i ever had to was to cut a piece of allthread that would slip threw threw the shaft and bolt it threw my cage and secure it with a wing nut. up and out of the way. but I don't change them often enough to carry either. so no pics!

[secorp]

Cajun-man, You are alone in that you carry fan blade stock. I have never heard of such a thing. usually when I did have a blade it hung on the back of my van cage behind the drivers seat with T stat wire, that is until I finally got rid of the noisy damn thing.

3 to 8 a week? by-ca-rumba that sounds strange.

[Baycienda]

I keep them in the original shipping box. If they're not in the original box, just put them in any cardboard box. There's no good way to do it.

[koldenhott]

Haven't done it, but how about mounting netting above top shelf...
...from top:1" foam, fan blade, 1" foam, then netting...secured with elastic
bungee cords...

...probably could put 4 to 6 blades length of shelfing...more if they nest
just right...

Hey, it's an idea!

[dec]

hmmmm ..... replaced very few in over 30 years

[Cajunhvac]

Yeah, I know I go through a lot of fan blades but like I said, the volume of units I work on makes up for the lack of variety.

I have approximately 600 hvac units in my service area. The majority of those are 3 and 5 ton Bard/Marvair/Eubank units which can all accept the same fan blade for a given tonnage (20" for 3 ton's, 24" for 5 ton's)

Of those 600 units in my area, I'd say that about half are 14-15 years old. The majority of the others are not newer than 8 years. Also, keep in mind that the duty cycle of these units is incredibly high. There is little difference between how much they will run on a 95 degree day compared to a 35 degree day. The electronic gear they cool keeps a heavy load on them all year round.

Oh, and if you think I go through a lot of fan blades.... I've been doing this job for about 3 years and estimate that I have replaced well over 100 compressors. Heck, I'm almost getting good at it.

[simplyrollin]

I have not replaced very many over many a year as well. I think the trick is to know how to get them off the shaft. I dont have a puller either, dont need one!

[rogerk]

You gotta think outside the box, or van in your case. Stash them under the hood or tie wrap them to something under your van.

[craig1]

You gotta think outside the box, or van in your case. Stash them under the hood or tie wrap them to something under your van.

I was thinking something along those lines, but didn't say it because I figured they would get dirty or rusty. Now that I see the OP goes though multiple blades a week I think its a good idea.

Maybe you could build some type of hinged cradle like some cars use for their spare tire

[gasoilair]

Here's some old school tech for you guys to munch on. This trick was shown to me by an old timer whom I thought was nuts until I saw it in action. This is especially effective if your working on something where the replacement part isn't easily available.

In the case of a fan blade, heat the hub up with your b-tank (doesn't need to be red, just heat it up a bit), pull the torch back, get your head out of the way because there's gonna be smoke, and jam a dinner candle right into the space where the hub meets the shaft. (Not the whole thing, maybe a half inch worth off the candle) The candle doesn't need to be lit, and no I'm not lit either. The wax gets drawn in between the hub and shaft (capillary action) lubricating it and keeping it from seizing again as it cools down. Slap on the Ultimate puller, and yank it off with your impactor.

This works great on rusted nuts also like lug nuts and so forth. I usually try PB blaster and ultimate puller first, and if I can't get anywhere with that, then the candle trick comes out to play.

[stonewallred]

Bungee cords across inner roof.