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Blue Blood



Member Since: 14 Jun 2022
Location: Shropshire
Posts: 79

United Kingdom 1990 Defender 90 200 Tdi HT Bonatti Grey
Planning on putting it in the plastic intake duct that is attached from the wing before it enters the squirrel cage. It should fit snuggly and on top of that it is a completely waterproof unit as it is meant for the marine industry so should be cool if it does get a little wet.
Post #1015899 21st Nov 2023 1:19pm
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geobloke



Member Since: 06 Nov 2012
Location: Nottinghamshire
Posts: 4410

United Kingdom 
Yup Ok I have seen them fitted there before. It will be good to know how effective they are. You might want to think about a snow cowl onto of the vent to keep the worst out of the mechanism.
Post #1015901 21st Nov 2023 1:22pm
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Mo Murphy



Member Since: 01 Jun 2008
Location: Letchworth Garden City, Herts
Posts: 2091

United Kingdom 1984 Defender 90 200 Tdi HT Pennine Grey
They are effective as a booster to the main fan though not so powerful that I'd make it variable. My bilge blower been in there for years and is just switched on when I need a bit of extra blow for the side window demisters
Mo The Land Rover 90 - Many are called, few are chosen.
Post #1015952 21st Nov 2023 9:17pm
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Blue Blood



Member Since: 14 Jun 2022
Location: Shropshire
Posts: 79

United Kingdom 1990 Defender 90 200 Tdi HT Bonatti Grey
I’m only rigging mine up as a variable speed item as it’s easier for me to do so when I wire in the controller (just piggy back off the existing fan power). I may need to up the fuse but other than that all should be good. And if it is overkill I can always disconnect it as I will be using twin bullet connectors.
Post #1015955 21st Nov 2023 9:28pm
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west4x4



Member Since: 23 Jan 2010
Location: Rutland
Posts: 138

United Kingdom 
Nice work. I did similar. Stripped the box cleaned up. I had planned on changing the matrix but the “bargain” alternative to an alisport didn’t fit so I cleaned the old one inside and out and reinstalled with new foams. New foam to the bulkhead and then covered box in stick on soundproofing and some pipe lagging to the box and the pipes leading to it to make sure no heat was lost. This with the extra fan in the duct has given my a powerful toasty heater
Post #1025822 24th Feb 2024 1:52pm
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Blue Blood



Member Since: 14 Jun 2022
Location: Shropshire
Posts: 79

United Kingdom 1990 Defender 90 200 Tdi HT Bonatti Grey
Hello again all, just thought i'd give you a progress update on how i'm getting on with this mini project.
So with the main unit finished and the defender off having its engine replaced I decided to start looking at the bilge fan. On other similar articles I could see how people had just needed to cut the original mounting legs off and that the fan just slid in almost perfect as a friction fit item...this was not the case for mine!!
So the problem was in the plastic duct the hole that butts onto the heater unit was much larger than what I had seen online for others (not sure if they were made different or if someone previously had enlarged the hole for less restricted airflow. Either way I needed to mount this fan so I measured up items printed out a drawing I had done in illustrator (if anyone wants a pdf copy please feel free to ask) and then I cut it out of 2.5mm thick Aluminium. Once that was done I gave it a spray in some etch primer to help with corrosion as I installed stainless rivnuts. I also used a smidge of CT1 when I installed the fan in against this retaining plate and used 4 marine grade stainless screws as an extra mechanical to hold it in place. It is pretty fair to say it is solid now. The only mistake I made whilst doing all this was on the plastic duct I put the plate on and marked out to drill holes which I did only to find i'd put the plate on the wrong way round and holes didn't quite match up so I had to orientate the plate into a different angle and drill another set of holes, it should make a difference as it'll all be within the foam gasket and still feed into the heater if anything did get past the retaining plate (if that makes sense).
Any how less writing and more pictures of what it actually looks like:


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I added the slots in so as not to restrict natural airflow but could always make another plate up at a later stage to see if forcing it all through the fan would make a difference. I also fed the wires through a hole and gromet on the top side ready to splice into the wiring of the main fan once I wire in the adjustable speed wiring. All in all fairly happy with the outcome and if the fan doesn't add the desired power its easy enough to adjust or remove completely.
Post #1026325 29th Feb 2024 8:37am
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