Cooling Fans

[boatmike]

I know this has been discussed before but I can't find it. I believe the consensus was that Caframo fans were good but there are others. In the Caframo range there is the Sirocco which has 3 speeds and is undoubtedly good but pretty expensive and the cheaper unguarded one with soft front edges that has 2 speeds at about half the price. Is it really worth about £150 for the Sirocco? Are there others to consider?

 

[vyv_cox]

We have the two speed one with the soft leading edges. Remarkably good performance and low consumption.

 

[NornaBiron]

We have three of the 'ultimate', the unguarded one, and one Bora ( in between the ultimate and scirocco), all perform very well, use little power and are quiet. The Ultimate are definitely the quietest.

 

[Mistroma]

We have three of the 'ultimate', the unguarded one, and one Bora ( in between the ultimate and scirocco), all perform very well, use little power and are quiet. The Ultimate are definitely the quietest.

We bought a Caframo Ultimate recently and I measured the Amps. on both speeds. I can't remember the figures but even the lower speed moved a lot of air fairly quietly. I'll post the figures if I can find them but they weren't far away from Caframo's quoted figures of 0.28 & 0.41 Amps.

I think cheapest we found for Ultimate model in UK was TCS at £55 (or Bora £80). I've seen them on sale in US for about $35 (approx. £25.50).

 

[Trident]

We have 2 Bora - which have 3 speeds and very low amps and work great and 2 of the soft bladed ones which are also very low amps

The Bora are better because they have ultimate flexibility in where you point them but honestly any of them will do very well for very little power and noise. Our friends have the Hella ones which are very much louder

 

[ribrage]

I winced and bought the scirocco as it has a timer and switches off after a set time - after four years of daily use I added a second one into the galley and then a third one into the lower saloon.

I've used other quality fans from Bosch and the like and it doesn't compare - as others have mentioned the current drawn is minimal.

Happy customer

 

[nickf]

I concur with others - carframo 2 speed with soft leading edges fine. Have two and well satisfied.

 

[typhoonNige]

I concur with others - carframo 2 speed with soft leading edges fine. Have two and well satisfied.

Like Ribrage we fitted a Scirocco and were impressed enough to buy a second. The main advantage of this design for us is that it folds away above the cabin doors and can be dropped down and used to blow in either direction. Fwd one does fwd cabin or saloon, aft does aft cabin or chart table.
They are much cheaper over here - we bought ours in Grenada

 

[TQA]

We have the two speed one with the soft leading edges. Remarkably good performance and low consumption.

DITTO boss bit of kit.

 

[boatmike]

Thanks for all that folks. I am convinced! The cheapest I have found in the UK is "Nautical Gifts." With postage the Sirocco is £98. The fold down function will be useful so I bit the bullet.

 

[macd]

They are much cheaper over here - we bought ours in Grenada

After buying and being happy with my first Ultimate, I waited until I was in Italy to buy another. Bound to be cheaper there, I thought, but no-one had heard of them. That was when I discovered they're made in Canada, which would in part expain the price and availabiity in the Antilles.

 

[NornaBiron]

The customer service is also excellent. We bought an Ultimate whuch was far from quiet. As we'd bought it in the UK and it was now in Greece, I contacted the company in Canada. They replaced the fan with no problems, I just had to e-mail a form with the serial number sticker on it.