clarke 180en fan operation

[79ws6resto]

Hi all!
Newbie here...with a question of course

I have a clarke 130en and it has been my faithful welder for years..no problems.

I recently picked up a 220v unit for heavier work...clarke 180en. Very nice unit..nearly identical to my 130en.
I noticed with the new 180en the fan does not come on automatically when powered on as it does with my 130en. Is this a "fan as needed" unit (only kicks on when necessary to cool the unit) or does my new toy have a problem right out of the box?

Any 180en owners here to verify?
Thanks all in advance for your advise.

 

[cumbriasteve]

I would suspect Clarke would not go to the expense of having a temperature controlled fan and would instead have it running all the time, this would also extend the duty cycle by cooling as much as possible from the moment of switching on.

It's not uncommon on any make of machine to shake a connection loose in transit, always worth a quick check but done safely of course.

 

[Robotstar5]

Had a look at some of the circuit diagrams for Clarke machines and the fan is connected across the mains switch so should start running as soon as you turn it on.

...and welcome to the forum.

 

[79ws6resto]

Thank you for the welcome!

I suspected as much but wanted to confirm. Searching the web turned up no answers....but I did find you mates

The seller (ebay) told me it only came on when needed...and another was honest enough to say he didn't know.

I'll crack the case open later and see what I can find...hopefully a simple fix.
I took a bit of a chance buying this since Clarke went out of business a few years ago but I've had good luck with my 110v unit and the price is so much better than the big name boxes.

Thank you both for your help..I will report back my findings

 

[79ws6resto]

And it works!

Opened the case tonight and found the fan blades were in direct contact with another component...pushed them slightly away from each other and the fan runs as it should.

Further investigation found a dent ( from transit probably) on the bottom of the case..directly below where the component was touching the fan. It works fine now but I will take the welder apart at a later date and smooth out the dent to restore the gap that should have been between the 2 parts in the first place.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Robotstar5]

Success, thanks for letting us know.

 

[Richard.]

I'm surprised that the obstruction on the blade has not caused the fan to burn out given it's been trying but unable to rotate for some time. I think you were lucky nice one.

 

[79ws6resto]

I'm sure it would have if I had listened to the seller haha

Luckily it was new out of the box and I suspected something was wrong right away so it only ran for a minute or so.

 

[79ws6resto]

Wow..it's been this long? Haha
FINALLY got around to stripping the welder down and hammered the dents out of the bottom of the case.

Much better now..no fan obstruction at all.

Thanks again for the help