[Amps] Alpha 87A Blower Replacement

[wb6rse1 at mac.com]

I recently replaced the blower in an Alpha 87A. The procedure is well documented by Brian, N9ADG:

http://lists.contesting.com/archives//html/Amps/2011-12/msg00217.html

Instead of disassembling the old blower, I applied two drops of "3 in 1" oil to both the front and rear ends of the shaft. On 240 volts, the blower quickly came back to normal from the loud squeaky sound it had been making. After several hours, the old blower continues to run quite well without noise.

The replacement of the blower, while straightforward, is not trivial and is very time consuming. If I had it to do over again, with the front of the 87A tilted up, I would have looked for a way to get a long oil dropper onto the front of the blower shaft instead of removing the blower. The rear end of the shaft is easily accessible through a hole in the rear of the chassis but the noise seemed to be predominately from the front. The orange connector at the rear of the AC unit holds the blower's AC leads. I'd disconnect it and splice in 240v at let in run leaving the rest of the amp un-plugged and un-powered.

It would have been at least worth a try. Worst case is to have to replace blower anyway.

73 - Steve WB6RSE