Electrical motor Help needed
 

OK, so living here in Wyoming I have no need for AC, only a Swamp Cooler. Well the old motor in it died last week. This is a 1/4 HP 2 speed electrical motor. Well when I hooked the new one up, it worked for about 30-45 seconds then kicked off. After setting, with the power off, for 4-5 minutes it will turn back on. I figured that the 14amp switch had gone bad, this is mounted in the house. Well I can't get a new switch till Monday, and it being over 90dg today I needed to do something as it's hotter than hell in here.
So I figured I'd just hook the power up direct to the low speed side, and run it for a while to at least cool the house of to sleep tonight. Well when I did it started doing the same thing.

Does anyone know if this is a issue with the motor or something else? :doh!::hmmm:

It's definitely an electrical problem.

4321



:rolleyes:



:D

strange. never heard of one. Heard of misting fan. is that it?

Photo?

is it controlled by a thermostat?

Nope

So, did you blow anything up?

I'm going to guess you didn't get the wires hooked back up correctly.

Check for a thermal overload switch. Usually a red button on the side.

http://www.inspect-ny.com/heat/OilBoiler5McDf047es.jpg

Sounds like you have something making this motor work too hard, either the shaft has seized or the thing it's moving is too big and heavy for it's rating. Maybe something is creating a drag on the system. Rotate the apparatus by had if you can and see if it's harder to turn than you'd expect.

I would say this is a good bet. either that or the motor is getting too much juice and overloading maybe?
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Unplug it before you stick your hand in there. Otherwise you might get a "Kodak Moment".

First off he said he put it on low speed, so I went ahead and assumed he'd notice if it was running like a bat out of hell from too much potential.

Could be something reeruning the flow of air making the air handling too laborious. Could be wrong gearing on the pulleys. Could be seizure in any 'free moving' parts. Could be the air handler getting friction on a surface. Heck, the water pump could be the critical issue.

What's pretty clear is that, if it's working then not working, then waiting and working again, that something is cutting the circuit for a reason, as opposed to being wired wrong or intermittent contacts.

Did you hit "CTRL ALT DEL" and call the help desk?

Check out this site www.fixya.com

I've used them a bunch and they've helped a bunch.

Along with a cool new fro and a swell nickname like stubby. :doh!:

JOhn, I would buy your maintenance lead over at the hotel chain a beer or two and have him come over and take a look at it.

:clap:

Yea I did that this morning, and he's going to come check it out after work tonight. Of course it's still gonna be hot has hell today.:grr:

Thanks for all the suggestions guys...
the motor is turning freely, when spun by hand. The shaft that runs the fan is free also, and I have it opened up so there is no restricted airflow. Haven't checked the the overload switch, if it has one.

I'm wondering if for some reason it might be getting to much juice? Gonna check the circuit here in a bit. But if all else fails, the head maintenance guy at our work said he'd come look at it tonight. That or I might pull the motor and take it to the maintenance shop and bench test it.

No but I did get some pretty sparks when I unhooked the old motor....ALWAYS double check the breaker is actually off:doh!:

:doh!::rolleyes::cuss::banghead::banghead:

ROFL

Well I think I have it fixed...........

I thought I would go double check everything again to make sure that nothing was causing it to overload. So in that effort, I loosed the adjustment so the belt was barely on, and would slip as opposed to hanging up.

Seems that was the issue the belt was to tight, causing to much drag :doh!:

THANK you guys, took someone pointing out the obvious to get me to rethink the problem. Rep for all, except Skip, who I think wanted pic of an explosion or missing digit. :D

I was kinda hoping for an explosion as well. :(

C'mon, we would all have enjoyed that pic.

:grr:

I MIGHT have spoke to soon.


It ran for 20 minutes this time, then shut down. Hmmmmmm

Hey, I was just being friendly.

I know, that's why I repped you anyway ;)

same thing happened to my attic fan, i had to loosen the belt. is it still acting up?

Well it was, so I took it to work & the maintenance dept hooked it up on the bench. It was going out or was a bad motor to begin with.

So went to hardware store & got a new one.....Ahhhhhh Cool air at last :clap:

i wish i could use a swamp cooler here in kc, but its way too humid