A mate of mine has an EB which is continually snapping fan belts. He has had his mechanic replace all the pulleys but it still keeps happening.

Is this a common problem on the EBs?

Anybody got any ideas what could be causing this?

that could be a major drama. could be excessive end float in the crank. if you look down the front try to see behind the crank pulley and if you see any shiny area its bad news. as far as i know its a common prob. i found that out on my ea but luckily for me it was due to the fact that the non genuine belts were slightly bigger than genuine. this could also be his prob and worth checking first.

How are they breaking? Ribs getting chewed off and the belt is tearing or are they literally snapping?

With belts, its either alignment (which can be casued by end float in various pulleys) or something siezing up....