Solar powered vent

[Gazza]

Am now working my way through our newly acquired boat, and have discovered a solar powered vent above the galley.

There is a small solar panel powering a fan - no battery as far as I can see, so clearly for daytime use only. However, the round plastic cover that screws over the solar panel, while being clear all around the edge, is opaque in the centre, which is, of course, directly over the solar panel. The fan works without the cover on, but stops immediately the cover is placed over it. There is no obvious way to remove the opaque part, and nothing to replace it with anyway.

The unit has the letters ECS moulded into the casing, but otherwise no clues as to origin, and local enquiries haven't helped. Can anyone shed any light (no pun intended) on this?

Thanks.

 

[halcyon]

ECS = EC Smith, used to be at Luton, They were Marine wholsalers.

Brian

 

[Strathglass]

E C Smith & Sons still at Luton. Telephone 01582 729721

Iain

 

[charles_reed]

E C Smith & Sons Ltd
H/J, Kingsway Ind Est.
Kingsway
Luton LU1 1LP
tel 01582 729721
fax 01582 458893

 

[toad]

I have just replaced the guts of my vent,a new solar fan unit was about £50 and the plastic cover £6 from my local chandlery,so you should be able to order just the cover from any good chandlery.

 

[davidbains]

When you're driving behind some vans they have spinning vertical axis air wheels on the roof presumably driving an extractor fan underneath. Has anyone used one of these on a boat. They would seem to be much more reliable than a solar fan, and would work at night too!?

 

[discovery2]

I fitted a couple of these solar fans on our previous vessel as they seemed to be a good idea to provide extra ventilation to the lockers above which they were placed. However the plastic (acrylic?) vent does become discoloured with prolonged exposure to the sun.

The plastic vents are available separately from ECS, and some chandlers - can't remember how much - but they do need replacing at frequent intervals.

For the last few years I removed the solar fans completely as I was not convinced they made any significant improvement to the ventilation!