MaxxFan killed by condensation

mark1974 · 12-06-2009, 08:49 AM

Has anyone else had a MaxxFan get shorted out and killed by condensation? I installed two of them back in April of this year and the kitchen one died. It hasn't run for a while now since its cold out. Its not that humid in the trailer either but I do have a vent plug installed all the time in the winter. The water dripped down on the circuit board and was frying. It sounded like a tiny water leak spraying in the ceiling and took me a while to find it as it wasn't very loud. The fan did not operate when I tried it so I removed it and checked it out. I blew it dry but it was already fried. I contacted MaxxAir and will see what they say. I sure hope I'm not out a fan. If nothing else I hope they will at least get me a circuit board I can solder in. This seems like a bit of a design short coming to me. There was a lot of water in the lower tray area where the controls are. The remote sensor was completely submerged. Below is a picture of the damage.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

spinella · 12-06-2009, 10:51 AM

that does'nt look good. how does the water get past the cover? i dont have a fan but i do have the regular covers for my vents. they are pretty weather proof.let us know what max air says.

mark1974 · 12-06-2009, 12:50 PM

The water isn't coming in from outside, its condensation forming on the inside of the lid and dripping/running down into the works. I live in my trailer so I have heat and moisture all winter. This hasn't happened to the bathroom fan (same one) because it gets used every day.

dalemac377 · 12-07-2009, 01:51 AM

Have you considered putting one of the foam blocks up in that fan opening to keep condensation from forming?That would insulate it.

mark1974 · 12-07-2009, 02:01 AM

That's how its been. I always plug the vents when not in use. I think the problem might be that the inside plastic trim insert that came with the fan has sharper corners that don't 100% seal to the insulator plug. The plug fits better in the stock trim insert that came with the trailer, which has rounder corners. Regardless of all that I feel the fan should be designed so water can't drip right on the circuit board. There is a hole right above the board where the fan wires go up to the motor. The water came down through this hole and dropped directly onto the baord. If the hole was moved a little it would make it impossible to get water on the board.

mark1974 · 12-08-2009, 09:51 AM

All I can say is WOW. MaxxAir has outstanding customer service!! They answered my emails same day and they are replacing the fan but it doesn't stop there. My first email was actually forwarded to the engineers in which I explained what I felt was a design flaw that would allow water to drip onto the PCB. This fan is a new design for this year and I got mine in April. Since then they have updated the PCB to have some sort of coating to help with moisture. They emailed me back and wanted more information on the problem so I gave it to them. I will paste what I got back today.

"Mark,



Thank you for the further information on

your use of the MaxxFan. As I said, we have never seen this problem

before. We have recently developed a new fan that does not include a

built-in rain cover. We have included a small curb around the wire motor

hole and then we place a small screw down cap over that to prevent any rain from

entering above the PCB. We will now redesign and incorporate this feature

into our MaxxFan Deluxe model with the built-in rain cover to prevent

condensation from falling on the PCB.



We are currently getting a small cover

made (we are not in production with the new fan yet) and we will install this

onto the MaxxFan that we send you as a replacement. It will not have the

curb around the hole, so we will use RTV to seal this cover. Please allow

me a few days to get this cover made before I ship the new MaxxFan to you. I

will let you know when it has shipped.



Again, thank you for bringing this problem

to our attention.



This is a drawing of the cover we will use

over the motor wire hole."
So not only do the see the problem and go about fixing it on future models but they are even retrofitting mine for me before they even have a production model. In my last email I explained how I was going to mod the new fan so this couldn't happen again but it looks like they are covering that for me! I'm so pleased and surprised I can hardly contain myself. You just don't find many companies like this anymore and I have never personally dealt with one this willing to fix the problem and fix it right.
Okay so with that said go buy a MaxxAir product, I highly recommend. LOL

mwebber78 · 12-08-2009, 10:04 AM

great news!

pegger · 12-08-2009, 10:12 AM

Impressive!!! I have two and they have operated flawlessly for 3 years.

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