Hey,
you're in the
home improvement zone--YOUR HANDYMAN ZONE!
Cooling
and Ventilation Systems Category:
Evaporative
/ Swamp Coolers
Problem:
Cooler motor is bad.
Tools / Materials (See Below for
Applicability):
-
Appropriate cooler motor (see section on how
to identify the right motor size, speed and voltage for your cooler)
-
Appropriate cooler motor cord
-
Screwdriver (or other fastening device as determined by the
manufacturer's use of fasteners)
Solution:
A component of the evaporative / swamp cooler,
like anything else,
that will eventually require replacement is the cooler motor. The following
are steps that you can follow in order to replace an old cooler
motor with a new one:
Caution: When dealing with any device that requires electrical
power, make sure you take precautions before you work on it,
including disconnecting the power.
-
If you have not
already done so in heeding the above cautionary statement, in
addition to turning off the power, unplug the plug of the cooler
motor, or, if the motor has no plug, disconnect its power wires
from the wires that are a part of the cooler, making sure you
note what was the arrangement of such wires before you
disconnect them for easy re-connections later on.
-
In order to
remove the cooler motor, you'll need to remove the cooler belt off of its pulley. To specifically
remove the belt, and then, in effect, ultimately the motor, the motor mount--either
in bolt form, slide form, or pivot form--must be loosened; as
may be applicable, with the use of a fastener device (e.g., a
screwdriver), loosen the motor mount fasteners just enough so
that the motor, itself, can be pushed toward the pulley of the
blower house (which is really the center of the blower house) so
as to be able to pull the cooler belt off the pulley system
(i.e., two pulleys) with the increased "slack" of such a belt
created as a result of this pulling-forward action.
-
Then, continue to
unscrew the motor mount fasteners until you are able to remove
the metal clips that go around both sides of the motor as part
of securing the motor, itself, to the motor mount.
-
Once the metal
clips are removed, you can now uplift the motor from its mount.
-
Take a look at
the condition of the electrical cord of this old motor, making
sure that it is not suffering from oxidation or that it is
otherwise damaged; if either is the case, a brand new cooler
motor cord should be purchased for use on the new motor.
-
If the existing
electrical cord seems good and usable, then do the following:
i.
Using a fastening device--a screwdriver--unscrew the screws that
secure the faceplate of the old cooler motor where the cooler motor
cord connects to the internal wires of the motor found there.
ii. With the new cooler motor, do the same to it as you did
with the old cooler motor, which is to unscrew the screws that
secure the faceplate of the new cooler motor where the cooler motor
cord will ultimately connect with the internal wire terminals found
underneath such a faceplate.
iii. With the faceplate opened to expose the interior wires of
the old motor and the faceplate of the new motor opened,
too--working with each wire one at a time--pull one wire off the old
motor and connect it to the similar terminal and position in the new
motor, and then repeat this process with each other wire until you
complete the cooler electrical cord wire-connection transfer from
the old motor to the new motor. (As an alternative to this
wire-by-wire, step-by-step process, you may opt to label such wires
for their respective positions as your preference over the
previously mentioned way of transferring the electrical cord wires
from one motor to another.)
For your incidental reference of the wires and terminals you'll be
dealing with, as described above, know this: The red-dotted
terminal should connect with the red wire, all of which concerns the
low speed of the motor; the white-dotted terminal should connect
with the white wire, all of which concerns the common electrical
component of the motor system; and the black-dotted terminal should
connect with the black wire, all of which concerns the high speed of
the motor.
-
With the cooler
electrical cord properly connected to the new motor, attach the
new motor
to its mount by placing the new cooler into this very mount and
then securing the metal clips that go around both sides of the
motor with the motor mount fasteners that are just slightly
tightened, as more positioning will be needed before final
tightening occurs.
-
Align the pulleys
correctly, as applicable. Pull the new motor toward
the pulley of the blower house just as is necessary in order to
re-install the cooler belt by "looping" it around both pulleys, one
and then the other, and then pull the motor squarely back into
place on the motor mount, just barely hand-tightening the mount
fasteners.
-
Before you
actually tighten the motor mount fasteners as tight as possible
(even with
a fastening device) for the relative future (until
another need to remove the motor arises), make sure the motor is
positioned into place on the motor mount just enough for the
belt, itself, to have about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of slack when
it is pulled on: If the belt slack is less than 1/2 of an
inch, pull the motor closer to the blower pulley until at least 1/2 of an
inch is met in belt slack; if the belt slack exceeds 3/4 of an
inch, pull the motor further away from the blower pulley. When you are
certain the cooler belt has about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of slack
when it is pulled on, you can now actually tighten the motor
mount fasteners as tight as possible (even with a fastening
device) for the relative future (until another need to remove
the motor arises).
-
Take the plug of
the cooler motor and plug it into the receptacle for its use or
otherwise make the necessary power wire connections of the cord
with those of the cooler electrical output, as may be
applicable.
That's all it takes to replace your
cooler motor with a new one.
Ed the
Handyman
&
Your
Handyman Zone Team
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