Step one. Bought the van.
Hello Everybody, First post. I camp a lot in tents but after spending three days straight in a tent in the rain at Dolly Sods I swore I'd make a change. Here it is. Bought it Wednesday. Dro...
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What you want to seperate is the gas the fan is moving and the circuit board in the fan itself. That is why pratically all explosion proof blowers are squirrel cage with the motor external from the gas path. Open up one of the fans to get to the circuit board. You will find the red and black wires soldered onto the pcb. Notice how close they are. What COULD happen, not saying it will, is the wire corrode at the solder joint. If either break loose and come in contact with the other, spark. If the red breaks loose and comes in contact with many things in there, spark. Granted, it would take a two tier failure mode to get the boom. Hydrogen above its LEL AND a malfuntioned fan failed in a manner to create the ignition.
If you're comfortable with what you have, and I understand the pushback because you have a lot of time invested in it, go for it. If you find opening the fan to gain access to the circuit board an easy task, cover the circuit board with some silicone RTV conformal coating or epoxy sealant. We use Dow Corning 3140 but there are other, cheaper brands out there. If you do decide to conformal coat and go with the spray type mask off all mechanical components before spraying.
I actually dreamt about converting a van last night after reading your thread. I'm inspired :)
If you're comfortable with what you have, and I understand the pushback because you have a lot of time invested in it, go for it. If you find opening the fan to gain access to the circuit board an easy task, cover the circuit board with some silicone RTV conformal coating or epoxy sealant. We use Dow Corning 3140 but there are other, cheaper brands out there. If you do decide to conformal coat and go with the spray type mask off all mechanical components before spraying.
I actually dreamt about converting a van last night after reading your thread. I'm inspired :)
