Industries — Industrial Fans
Abrasive Blasting & Coatings for Industrial Fans
Industrial fan components are the most balance-sensitive items we handle. An impeller that runs true depends on material being distributed evenly around it, so both the blasting and the coating have to be even — uneven metal removal or a heavy patch of paint on one side is not a cosmetic issue, it is a vibration issue. We blast and coat fan components in house at Bayswater, choosing the media to suit the substrate and the part rather than blasting everything the same way.
What we handle
Typical industrial fans items
Fan work usually arrives as a set of related components: the housing or scroll, the impeller or fan wheel, inlet cones and bells, shafts and hubs, support frames and pedestals, and inlet and outlet transitions or guards. Some come from new fabrication needing a first coating system; more often they come out of service, corroded or with a coating that has been eroded away by the air stream.
The other common driver is contamination. Fans moving process or extracted air accumulate deposits on the impeller and housing that both unbalance the assembly and hide the condition of the metal underneath. Blasting removes those deposits and lets the actual state of the steel be seen before anyone decides whether the component is worth recoating or should be replaced.
- Fan housings and scrolls
- Impellers and fan wheels
- Inlet cones, bells and transitions
- Shafts, hubs and backplates
- Support frames, pedestals and guards
Coating systems
Which coating systems tend to suit this work
Coating choice here is driven by the air stream — its temperature, its moisture and whatever it is carrying. These families are the ones most often specified for fan components.
| Coating family | Where it commonly comes up |
|---|---|
| Epoxy primers | The common base coat on blasted steel housings and frames, for adhesion and corrosion resistance. |
| Hi-temp silicone coatings | Where the fan handles hot air or gas and ordinary systems would not hold up at temperature. |
| High builds and finishes | Used on housings where a specified thickness is wanted over the primer. |
| Polyurethanes | Frequently the finish on external housings and frames exposed to weather or sunlight. |
| Chlorinated rubbers | Considered where the air stream is wet or chemically aggressive. |
| Zinc | Specified on structural supports and pedestals where corrosion protection is the main concern. |
This is general guidance rather than a recommendation for your item. We apply specified and non-specified systems — if you are working to a paint specification, send it through and we will work to it.
Preparation
Surface preparation considerations
Even treatment is the governing principle. On impellers and wheels, blast media and coating both have to be applied consistently around the component, because anything that adds or removes material unevenly affects how the assembly runs. Where a component has been balanced, tell us — including whether balance weights are fitted and must be retained, because they are easy to remove accidentally along with the old coating.
It is also worth being clear about what happens to bearing journals, machined faces, keyways and mating surfaces. These normally need masking rather than blasting, and we would rather agree that with you at quoting stage than guess. Rebalancing after coating is specialist work carried out by others; our part is preparing and coating the component in a way that does not make that job harder.
All blasting and coating happens in house at 46 Malvern Street, Bayswater. We do not offer mobile or on-site blasting, so items are dropped off or sent by courier and collected once finished.
Services
Services used for industrial fans work
Garnet Abrasive Blasting
Removes deposits, rust and eroded coatings from steel housings, frames and heavier fan components, leaving a profiled surface for priming.
About Garnet Abrasive BlastingGlass Bead Abrasive Blasting
Often the better choice for aluminium impellers and thinner-gauge components, cleaning them evenly without cutting an aggressive profile.
About Glass Bead Abrasive BlastingProtective Coatings
Systems selected for the air stream's temperature and moisture, applied in house directly after blasting.
About Protective CoatingsThe batch of machinery components finished in safety yellow in our gallery shows how we handle related parts from one assembly together, so the finish is consistent across the set.
See the gallery →Questions
Industrial Fans FAQs
Blasting removes coating and corrosion, so on a component that has been balanced there is a real possibility the balance is affected — particularly where corrosion was uneven to begin with. We treat components as evenly as we can, but rebalancing after coating is specialist work carried out by others and should be planned for.
More general questions are answered on our FAQs page.
Talk to us about your industrial fans job
Send photographs, dimensions and any paint specification you are working to, and tell us whether you will drop the item off at Bayswater or need transport arranged.