We always stay on the safe side, and we want our customers to do that too. So we created a video and the content below specifically to cover safety precautions during maintenance work on industrial fans.
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times. Lack of bearing lubrication is one of the most common causes of failure in an industrial fan. There’s only one way to avoid that type of failure, and that’s proper, regular management of fan bearing grease. But we don’t always go into much detail about how to do that.
When you’re running industrial process operations, you don’t have time for downtime, and it can be very costly on top of that. But if something goes wrong and you don’t have spare industrial fan parts on your shelf, it can take weeks and even months to replace them, particularly if your fan is custom and especially in the current supply chain environment.
Fan bearing protection is always a high priority, especially with high-temperature fans. That’s because most high-temperature fan failures happen at the inboard bearing. But why? What’s special about that spot? To understand that, you need to understand some nuances of high-temperature fan design and common mistakes made during installation.
If you work with a manufacturer that builds high-quality products, do a great job with the installation, and prioritize regular fan and blower maintenance, your industrial fan could last as long as 50 years. So what does all that mean? We break it down below and in Chet’s latest video.
RTD Temperature Sensors can prevent complications that could otherwise lead to bearing failure. Maintaining proper temperatures, along with vibration monitoring and proper greasing, optimizes the longevity of your bearings so they reach their L10 potential.
Adding vibration monitoring can lead to extended bearing life, and ensure your bearings reach their L10 potential. Vibration velocity measures in inches per second (IPS) how the equipment in question is being fatigued from vibration, ultimately influencing its longevity. The standard IOM (Installation, Operations, and Maintenance) manual recommends keeping vibrations under .124 inches per second for industrial fans operating in the installed state.
Fan bearing maintenance helps increase longevity and potential to reach the fan bearing’s full L10 life. Stated as a number of hours, L10 life indicates the life expectancy with 90% confidence that the bearings will meet the expectation. The higher your L10 life, the longer your bearings should last, provided you maintain your bearings.
Centrifugal fans, with their moving parts and sometimes heavy-duty air processing, require regular fan maintenance in industrial applications. You might need to clean it, you might need to balance it, you might need to repair a part, or even retrofit the fan. At some point, you’ll need access to work on the wheel and shaft. If you’re not sure you’ll be able to get into the access doors in your application, split housings might just save the day.
One of the most important post-purchase questions is how to properly install and maintain an industrial exhaust fan in order to avoid problems. AirPro is an industrial blower manufacturer that considers installation and maintenance even before building your blower fan and takes into consideration the most common causes for operation problems with any industrial blower fan.
Bearing life is a major component in overall fan life. Maintaining proper lubricant levels with appropriate lubricant for the application will extend bearing life and require fewer replacements. A simple preventative maintenance program implemented for your fan can save thousands of dollars in replacement parts over the course of several years. Such a plan would involve such steps as regular lubrication of fan and motor bearings, connection inspections, and vibration analyses.
