How can I raise a plenum fan off the ground?

[ballsonwalls]

I am using a plenum fan (greenheck QEP) for a somewhat atypical situation and the maintenance engineer doesn't want to have to "bend down" to change the belts (eye roll). Is there a way to raise the fan without having to build a concrete pad that is 4 feet high? The fan has been purchased but is just sitting there waiting for a plenum to be built around it. We discussed hanging it from the structure but thought it would be a bad idea.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[NCDesign]

Wow, if he had to change or inspect them 3 or 4 times a day I would take his comment seriously, but I really can't otherwise. Does his employer really want to spend an extra $3-$4k so this guy doesn't have to bend down twice a year to check a belt. Man that year when he has to bend down three times in a 365 day span because he has to actually change it is gonna be a bi%&#. I would go back to the requester and see what they had in mind. I'd get it in writing if you could. Then when someone comes around and says wtf? You can cheerfully pass them on to not just the originator of the idea but also pass along their well thought out solution to keep them from bending over twice a year.

Seriously, I don't know the size of the fan but you could probably do some sort of steel support frame cheaper than concrete. Obviously that expense increases greatly as the size of the fan increases.

 

[DrRTU]

Tell him to bend over for the belts or bend over for the price. Plenum fans are typically mounted on structural bases inside an AHU. It would be very pricy to raise the asby. A motor change may be harder to undertake with the unit raised.