Fixing An Old Furnace Fan

[More350Power]

I love them old blowers! Usually if you reverse two of the leads in the motor it just changes the rotation of the motor ive found. Usually I find the tension adjuster on the back of the blower opposite of what yours has, but I guess it depends on how it is installed in the furnace. Great vid!

[Area51XP]

Hi Bill, you missed one thing.. a shot of ZOOM SPOUT OIL in that little yellow cap on the bearings.. :) you should keep some in your tool box of things for next time. Good deal fixing it up.. its a much happier motor indeed! love it. Keep up the good work friend. Peace

[handiest1]

He must REALLY want those terminals clean!

[wow1022]

you should clean it up and paint it

[uxwbill]

@wow1022 Nah, it's OK with me as long as it is electrically and reasonably mechanically sound.

[iamdave0887]

Since we both seem to fancy electric motors perhaps i should take a video of the motor on my 1940's shop compressor. It's an ancient "Delco Motor" non-capacitor start 1 1/2 horsepower motor running at ~1725 RPM pulled 10 amps at 220 volts. The motor is huge to say the least. Has a lovely startup sound to it as well.

Interested in a video?

[fattpill]

Power flight makes a Blower for about 150 dollars and it will move as much air as that furnace fan

[alderaforall]

@fattpill the setup he has moves the air for $140 less than the power flight blower you're talking about.

[DOLRED]

Thanks for making this video. I can think of one great use----drying out wet carpet/flooring. Try buying one of those fancy high volume air movers for carpet--big bucks! This is a great idea on that alone. 

[youyou5923]

who is the key keeper

[uxwbill]

@youyou5923 A brother of mine.

[theimaginator16]

This is why i keep emory boards handy, not only are they great at keeping your nails all pretty *wink!* but they are great at cleaning points, and connectors just like those! Couldn't help but sub when i saw all of the electronics stuff BTW!

[uxwbill]

@theimaginator16 I tried turning the house upside down to find one and all I got was an upside down house for my trouble. :-)

Thanks for watching and subbing. Do feel free to comment, make suggestions/requests or send messages any time. I don't always notice everything, so if you don't think you got my attention, ask again.

[isethaitchison]

thats an older Dayton motor, pretty similar to mine, it is a nice fan.

[uxwbill]

@isethaitchison This fan works great, and my opinion of Dayton motors has always been high.

[isethaitchison]

@uxwbill I agree, my fan is a larger belt drive like yours, i havent done anything to the motor on mine, runs great, clean..considering it came from the dump lol

[OutlawzConnect1]

insted of my grandprants getting a new ferenace, they got the parts inside it replaced. lol i guess you can do that if you want

[manyvideoinerests]

hey there, nice fan. Reminds me of the one in my mom and dad's fernace, though there's was much older. Just to get them going and for a little personal amuzement, i'd go to the fernace and turn it on and off.

[Ajaces]

Good job, and a little learned here.

[hunteryel]

MY dad has a few of theses working pefect at his shop

[chatrkat]

that motor was in sad shape, you did well. as previously noted, there is too much load on the motor with the blower running that fast in free air. put a smaller pulley on the motor shaft.

[uxwbill]

If the motor is having a problem with too much load, it's not obvious. It does get warm in operation, but not any more so than any other similar motors I have (operating shop tools). It's run for several hours after repairs and honestly it seems to be OK.

If you really think I should give it a smaller pulley anyway, I certainly could. I have a few.

[chatrkat]

not knowing the hp of that Dayton (Emerson) motor, it could be 1/2 or less. the motor pulley looks a little large to run that blower in 0 static pressure especially if it's less than 1/2 hp, so a slightly smaller pulley will lessen the chance of overloading the motor. the blower will still move lots of air. wise move to replace the old starting cap. unfortunately the they have gotten mighty expensive! ...nice job on the video. 5 stars!

[uxwbill]

I wish I knew for sure, but the label is unreadable even after a great deal of examining. I've been thinking that it's got to be right around a half-horse motor.

I kinda wondered if Dayton Electric made their own motors or not. It's surprising how many I've seen and yet the company (if it still exists) doesn't have much of a public face. (I did see some evidence that they're a business of Grainger these days.)

Anyway, I'll try the smaller pulley. I got a multi-speed fan tonight as well...

[chatrkat]

Dayton motors have come from a couple different manufacturers through the years, mostly Emerson, and they were mainly sold by Graingers. Some years back I started seeing Dayton motors coming out of Mexico. Now Chinese motors are sold with a Dayton label. Sad, very sad.

[67tr876]

dayton still is around and i have bin geting stuff form them.

[uxwbill]

I did some shopping around for starting caps. I had the mistaken impression that they were something you'd find in a hardware store. I struck out at several and finally found a small motor repair shop. They sold me a slightly larger cap for $7, which I didn't think was too bad. And it did make even more difference in how it started--I could see an improvement just by cleaning up the contacts. The cap made an even bigger difference.

[chatrkat]

You did well for $7. I'd have guessed 20. or higher. It was mostly going bad if the motor starts better now, along with a clean starting switch.

[thepaashaas]

Ive baugt plenty of lighther, then again, i am a smoker, yes indeed, there are still people in this bizarre world that smoke...(and no, its not 'that' bad at all as they tell you...)

[uxwbill]

Just so there's no misunderstanding, I have absolutely nothing against anyone who smokes. I know a lot of people who do. It's a personal choice and you might as well do what you want. :-) Please don't be offended, as that is not my intention.

The only thing I don't like is cleaning up the stuff that collects inside computers.

[thepaashaas]

Dont worry im not offended, but here in Europe, armericans are usually know be very anti-smoke, but i guess thats not realy true.

Im pretty sure its the same in america, that some think the Dutch actually walk on wooden shoes and that we all smoke pot in amsterdam, butt thats not realy true, just because pot is a legally available product here, doesnt mean we actually smoke it, i never did, i also never will. Because i promised my mother i shouldnt :p

[mjmcomputers]

It will spin up faster and the motor will be happier if you partially block the intake, or add a grill to restrict it a little.

[uxwbill]

It does have a restriction on the output side that seems to make a difference. (I had to take it off to repair it.)

The motor just got a new starting cap and now it's like a whole different unit. I got it starting a lot better just by cleaning it up, but now it starts much more easily--almost instantly I'd say.

[mjmcomputers]

While it is running try partially blocking the intake and see if the motor speeds up and starts blowing more air.

[uxwbill]

It didn't appear to.

[Jasons1487]

that is a fantastic find, those work very well when you are trying to fix a car in you're driveway on a hot day. you won't find another fan that moves that much air.

[DRNEGOLICIS]

i have that exact same blower but its a little bigger and the motor is 1 and a half horse power i got it in the trash though lol neghbor had it in their trash pile ive had it for a long time make sure to oil those bushings on the sides of the blower it take a load off that motor and well u dont want those bushings to go out dont think u can get them any more

[themaritimeman]

Good job!

[MSNIMSM]

I have seen fans like that, they kinda remind me of tower fans, hence the impeller.

[IHMan1066]

those fans are cool alot of people call the swirl cages around here....we had one in our shop but they were oilable bearings on the far shaft and well.....no one before us oiled them and after one summer it was toast :/ ill just have to find a new one...maybe at the junk yard cool vid might have to try this if i get a similar one

[kennethwdc]

What kind of pickup is at 6:28? (blue in color).

[uxwbill]

'56 Ford. It's the neighbor's truck, and was originally a six cylinder with an automatic transmission. Today it has a Ford V8 and manual tranmission (don't know exactly which ones) from a '69 Gran Torino. It also got the twelve volt electrical system from that car.

[itscool1968]

that isnt the orginal motor for the blower it starts to fast most spin up slowly but it will work fine for what you want it for

[uxwbill]

It's not a powerful little motor. I don't know what its ratings are as the label has faded to where I can't read it. I'd guess maybe 1/3rd HP at best. 1/2 would be giving it a lot of credit.

Under the load of forcing air through ductwork, I'd expect that it would start up slower than it does in free air. But it seems to be OK with that, which is more than I can say for newer furnace fan motors, some of which overspeed and overheat when running in free air.

[HDXFH]

asking for trouble... no ground pin

[uxwbill]

It's got one now. I guess people don't understand its important safety function. Fortunately, many don't ever have to learn that lesson the hard way.

[pearselives1916]

if you already oiled the motor bearings dont forget to put grease in the caps on the blower bearings. if the caps arent there, just pack grease into the ports where the caps would screw on. lithium grease works fine

[xScHwInNBMXx]

I have one out of my dad's old house and I cut off an extention cord and wired it to the fan so its my garage fan in the summer, its great for getting gas fumes out of there too!

[wesley5138]

you need a emery board nail file

[uxwbill]

I didn't think of that at the time. Probably could have bought one of those instead...

[rhblakeman]

Use a Dremel with a rotary brush. I'm looking for a squirrel cage and motor myself for a paint room ventilation fan. Guess the flea market is my next place to search.

[uxwbill]

As much as I like the Dremel for some stuff, it goes too fast for my liking on delicate work like this.

[KMScarboy]

my grandpa has a fan like that sitting in his basement...

[randomrazr]

so what are u going to do with it now?

[uxwbill]

I'll use it wherever I want to move a lot of air for cooling or ventilation purposes.

You can buy ready-made (and certainly prettier looking!) fans in many stores. However, this one works just as well (if not better) and the price was certainly much less.

[randomrazr]

ah yeah thats true

wouldnt it be more cost effective to get one new from the store?

i would assume newer ones use less hydro

[uxwbill]

Hydro? As in electricity generated by a hydroelectric plant?

I haven't tested it for power use. My guess is 6-9 amps at 110VAC.

I priced some store bought ones. A small one from the Stanley Tool Works costs about $50. I didn't find anything bigger outside of ones that are used to provide the air that keeps inflatable structures, well, inflated or that cleaning and restoration companies use to circulate air through large areas. And those seem to be very expensive, usually a few hundred bucks.

[bryce954]

thought maybe you would put it in the dishwasher haha

[uxwbill]

"I think I need a bigger dishwasher!"

[mechanicwarrior20]

hmm thats a nice motor, you can also go up a size for a start capacitor to give it a little extra kick if she is stuborn turning over.

Mind you that centrifugal switch you got to keep an eye out for that.

[uxwbill]

Seems to be starting a lot better--and much more reliably--now. It's still a little stubborn at times.

I'm going to replace the capacitor just as soon as I can find someone selling them around here. I really thought the hardware store would have some, but evidently not.

[cbhonda90]

cool...... ''long live the blower fans''