My DH and I differ on safety issues and I admit I’m over protective. We had an electrician install outlets for our fans in the 3-stall barn. The fans are in a row with fan #1 tying into fan #2 and fan #2 tying into fan #3. Fan #3 is the only one that GFCI. I saw the other two and mentioned it and my DH said the wiring for Fan #3 would interrupt the circuit in the event of a fire. Reason I asked is we have heavy-duty indoor fans (not anywhere close to being a box fan, but still). Should I buy outdoor fans for just piece of mind or will this work? Thanks in advance!
Get fans with sealed motors.
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Usually, if all the outlets are in a line together, with an outlet with the GFCI tripper thingie (so technical) included in the group, they are ALL GFCI and all of them will cut out if there is a problem with any one of them. We’ve had isssues over the years moving into new-to-us homes and having, say, a patio outlet be “dead” and having to search around the property to try to find the outlet with the reset switch, and it’s often been quite distant from the other outlet (say, the dead one on the back deck, the one with the reset in the inside far corner of the garage). Try testing the one with the switch, the others should “die.”
I’d still get outdoor fans for durability if nothing else, though.
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The fans are in a row with fan #1 tying into fan #2 and fan #2 tying into fan #3. Fan #3 is the only one that GFCI
if you need to describe this arrangement to a service tech… your fan number 3 appears to me to be actually be number one with the other two downstream from it… did I read it correctly? .
Do your have a GFCI outlet or is the circuit of a GFCI breaker at the panel? … whichever you need to make note of the reset point for other to know just where to look
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A properly wired GFCI circuit will have the GFCI as the first outlet past the breaker (sometimes it’s done with a GFCI breaker instead) and any outlets that are daisy-chained after that receive the same GFCI protection. What you need to be sure of is not overloading the circuit with the number of fans (and anything else plugged into it) you intend to use on it.
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Get sealed motor fans.
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A GFCI breaker will only help if you get a ground fault. When an electric motor goes bad a GFCI will not trip. You need AFCI (arc fault) breakers for circuits which will be running electric motors. Years ago I went out to the barn and turned on the fans and none came on. I checked the panel and the AFCI breaker had tripped. I checked the fans and found the bad one. I plugged it into the aisle outlet which is GFCI and the fan ran perfectly.
In our barn the circuit for the fans runs above the stalls and the fans are hung up there out of reach of the horses. It is AFCI. Any other circuit in the barn is GFCI since they are within reach of the horses.
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good idea but we have DC fans… the brushes in the fan motors would be a source of fault for the arc faults (at least I think they would) … we would need to add battery backups that would become the primary power source for the fans
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I have sealed fans and noticed that the motors do get hot. Is that ok? I am paranoid about fans too.
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@knightrider922 I haven’t felt my fans. I have some with sealed motors that are in the barn overhang and I can’t reach them easily. The other ones (without sealed motors) are in their stalls and I haven’t checked. How long are they on?
Are you worried about them overheating/causing a fire? I would think that as long as you had a licensed electrician install them properly, they should be fine. But if you want extra peace of mind, you could install fire/smoke detectors. I have put them in my barn because I am paranoid and it helps me sleep at night 
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I upgraded to sealed motors last year and noticed that my motors also run hot. I called the manufacturer directly. I was told that the heat is normal.
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I actually give my fans breaks after a couple hours running because I was paranoid…guess it’s ok then? Good to know
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@Lucassb What a great idea! Can you hear them from your home easily or is there some sort of remote system? That would give me piece of mind.
Yeah! I asked for the two additional fans for an early birthday present. I just ordered them this morning. My DH turns the fans on at night and now I’ll have peace of mind.
There are wired and battery versions. Both connect to an app on my phone so I get alerts even if I am not on the property.
You’re welcome!! They are great for peace of mind.
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