Pictured above is possibly the most ubiquitous bath fan of it's era.
With a simple motor, connector and easily removable blower etc. These fans and others sold by Broan were popular with builders and homebuyers. The housing was robust and well made with parts that would eventually wear out and could be easily replaced (so long as the company was still in business.) it is.
Examples..
here's a couple video's showing the thoughtful upgradable designs.
Sounds great.. I want to buy products from this thoughtful company.
I've gone so far as to measure the housing and compare it to other manufacturers offerings to no avail.
What started as a "no problem" "5 minutes to swap that motor out" (because the company that made those is awesome and made it so everything is easily replaceable) yada yada has turned into .. "I'm pissed!! What?? Noooo? ?? That can't be? Hours of my wasted time before I even go to break news that the company that was once awesome for it's enterprising and forward thinking designs is now the complete opposite and will no longer support those old products in favor of the newer models.
Bottom line.. $50 part might be a $500+ tear out and new install.
What PITA this has been.. You try and do a favor..
Enjoy this food for thought when buying you're next bath fan or whatever..
Coming soon...
Why does this...
make me believe a consumer protection agency is nonexistent hogwash?
They make replacement motors for most of these, you just have to save your plug and wire it in on some of them....what you need is the frame config, the amps and rpm...don't spend more than $20
I suspect the "Molex" style plug is the crux of the obsolescence problem. If you switch to a NEMA 1-15R or a NEMA 5-15R for the internal fan housing socket you will have many more options.
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"Don't disturb my circles." translation of Archimedes last words
They certainly are available, they are just not as universal. One should also use their crimping tool to put pins onto the wire or premature failure can be a problem.
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"Don't disturb my circles." translation of Archimedes last words
You might do better to replace the whole fan motor/frame/blower unit inside the shell if you can find the correct size. I think the shell is a pretty standard box. Look at this one at Repairclinic.com. I get a lot of appliance repair parts from them, and have been very happy. I see that the exact replacement of the motor alone (by your part #) is listed as no longer available.
This thread reminded me of the bathroom fan replacement I did several decades ago. We had just moved into the house we currently occupy and the elder son liked to take "long, hot" showers. When he finished, everything would be dripping with condensation--even the skylight. After a bit of scouting I found a squirrel cage blower that would fit in the installed box with an airflow rated at several times that of the original installed fan. Because the bathroom doesn't have a window, I cut away part of the wall to the hallway for ventilation and installed a couple of louvered vents to cover holes in the bath and hall walls--looks just like a cold air return. I also directed the exhaust to one of the roof vents to keep from saturating the attic. Three decades on and no problems. And the squirrel cage blower has less than a quarter the noise level of the original fan. Liked the lower noise level so much I also replaced the fan in our master bath.
Just been through a similar ordeal with a blower motor and none are available in the frame size to fit the housing. So I pressed the motor apart, stripped the winding off, weighed the copper and ordered 250g of .010 winding wire from England. Why England you ask when I am in Australia, well I tried to get wire locally but only acme in 100g rolls or spools of several Kg, neither of which were advantageous.
So put coil former on bolt in lathe, set to back gear slow speed and wind 125g of wire on in about half an hour. Reassemble and problem solved with 20$ worth of wire plus the outrageous postal charges of 20$. Still I have enough .010 wire to wind it again when it fails, which it won't, Murphy was an Optimist!
Broan S80U-A /Replacement Motor #99080448 
Re: Broan S80U-A /Replacement Motor #99080448
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