On 1/30/2020 12:34 AM, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 23:03:02 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Jan 2020 22:52:11 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 1/29/2020 8:57 PM, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?


Your new roof should last 20 to 30 years. Will the old fan? Do you
want to have the roof disturbed three years from now? In the scheme of
things, it does not cost that much for peace of mind.

Sorry, I should have said that this 2nd guy isn't recommending a new
roof, just selective** repairs, so I'm still going to need a whole new
roof in few years.

So maybe his saying the fan needs replacing should have been reserved
for people getting a whole new roof, and he just said it without
thinking, out of habit?

**He hasn't sent a list of repairs yet, but he told me a new ridge rail,
one piece of plywood, covered by new shingles which may not match but
can't be seen from the ground anyhow, repairs to some popped nails, and
maybe other stuff will be in the list.

The new roof should last 20 or 30 years - yup - if it's done right
this time. Putting in a new one makes sense BUT.The new fan is
unlikely to last 20 or 30 years. Make sure you get one that can be
dissassembled without removing it and buy a spare so you have parts
when required - otherwise the roofer will be telling you you need to
replace the roof next time the fan goes bad. Just sayin - - - -

You have a good point there. I've had to replace the motor for this
fan three times, and it's possible from the inside.

It's tricky because, because of the motor brackets, the blade makes it
hard to take the motor out (and without gravity to help, even harder to
put it back in), and the fan has 3 sort of L-shaped brackets that come
from outside and together make a ring around the motor.

The brackets are mounted on rubber things somehow, so the motor
vibration doesn't get to the house, and I don't know how to disconnect
the brackets from their mounting and wouldn't try it if I knew how. The
rubber is still in good condition after 35 years but I would think that
would fail first. When disconnected at the motor, the rubber mounts let
the brackets move up and down and to the side, to some extent.

It was tricky enough to change the motor, but the 3rd time, they put a
1/8" plastic band around the motor where the bracket goes, so I couldn't
fully tighten (until the brackets touched each other around the motor)
the 3 bolts connecting the brackets. It used to fit that motor
perfectly. (The plastic band seemed like it be very difficult to take
off, like it was stuck to the metal, but I didn't realize all this until
I was in the middle of it. If there's a next time, I'll call the motor
company first and see what they say.) EVEN THOUGH, the motor has the
same model number, with no suffix or anything, as it did the first time
I replaced the motor. It's gotten bigger but the model number stays
the same.


With a ridge vent do you even need a fan? Years ago I put one in that
stopped working. With new roof, roofer just put in a passive vent. Now
with a second new roof with ridge vent fan is not needed.

I also had a next door neighbor whose fan failed and set the roof on
fire after midnight when they were sleeping. If another neighbor coming
home late had not seen it a tragedy might have resulted.