bathroom fan for stir plate?

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mandoman

mandoman

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I replaced a bathroom fan for a fan/light combo and have the old fan. It's 120v. I'm wondering if, with a dimmer switch, it will be ok for a stir plate? It is already in a perfectly sized box but I'm concerned that even on low it will spin too fast. If y'all have done this before please comment. I'm probably going to try it anyway cuz I have everything except the switch. Thanks ahead of time.
 
Finished. here's some pics and a description. Used fan, bought stir bar, dimmer switch, had some old wire. Clipped out hole in fan housing so magnet wouldn't stick. Propped flask up on 1/4" magnets from kids toys. Will not run with this magnet/bar/volume combo above about halfway but that is plenty for the vortex.

Be glad to show more pics if needed. Really was as easy as twisting some wire nuts and cutting out the fan housing.

beer 040.jpg


beer 039.jpg
 
man, I'm flattered. Separated at birth, BM. I am just soo into the ghetto thing. Use what you got is what I say. Function before fashion. :fro:
 
I just replaced a bathroom fan and was wondering the same thing. Glad to see someone has already done this and that its possible, so I won't be wasting my time. Might try to make it a little purtier though. :D
 
Nice. I bought a $13 bath fan at homedepot two months ago, but haven't gotten around to putting it together.... hopefully this will be insprirational.

PS from what i understand, a bathroom vent works with a rheostat (variable resister (light dimmer)) because it is a "shaded pole motor"

regular AC motors can't handle the dimmer.
 
sjlammer said:
Nice. I bought a $13 bath fan at homedepot two months ago, but haven't gotten around to putting it together.... hopefully this will be insprirational.

PS from what i understand, a bathroom vent works with a rheostat (variable resister (light dimmer)) because it is a "shaded pole motor"

regular AC motors can't handle the dimmer.
Click to expand...

The commonly available light dimmers are not rheostats. I don't know what the proper term is to describe them, but they work by switching the current on and off very rapidly, not by varying the resistance. IIRC, the effect is to chop off part of the AC sine wave. While not technically kosher, I use one as a speed controller with a 110v AC muffin fan and it works for me and I've been running my stir plate this way for a long time without problems. No overheating of the fan or the dimmer at all. Initially, I was concerned that the motor would quickly burn out or overheat, but that hasn't happened and I don't expect that it will.
 
Catt22 said:
The commonly available light dimmers are not rheostats. I don't know what the proper term is to describe them, but they work by switching the current on and off very rapidly, not by varying the resistance. IIRC, the effect is to chop off part of the AC sine wave. While not technically kosher, I use one as a speed controller with a 110v AC muffin fan and it works for me and I've been running my stir plate this way for a long time without problems. No overheating of the fan or the dimmer at all. Initially, I was concerned that the motor would quickly burn out or overheat, but that hasn't happened and I don't expect that it will.
Click to expand...

I would have been worried that the fan would draw too much current and over heat the switch. But if it works it works and I'm no electrician.
 
mariojr said:
I would have been worried that the fan would draw too much current and over heat the switch. But if it works it works and I'm no electrician.
Click to expand...

I'm not an electrician either, nor an electrical engineer. I think that I can get away with doing it this way as the muffin fan only draws 22 watts running normally. The dimmer switch is rated for up to 300 watts. The muffin fan is also a brushless design which may have something to do with it. The dimmer switch doesn't get warm at all even after running continuously for days at a time.
 
Catt22 said:
I'm not an electrician either, nor an electrical engineer. I think that I can get away with doing it this way as the muffin fan only draws 22 watts running normally. The dimmer switch is rated for up to 300 watts. The muffin fan is also a brushless design which may have something to do with it. The dimmer switch doesn't get warm at all even after running continuously for days at a time.
Click to expand...

Isn't math wonderful.


:off:
I was working on a home renovation and the owners had eight can lights hooked up to a very underrated dimmer. The damn switch was almost too hot to touch. It's a wonder the house didn't burn down.
 

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