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Anyone know about wiring up a blower fan?

  • Thread starter JDW
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JDW

JDW

So I got the big blower fan for a DIY laminar flow hood but I can't figure out how to wire it. It's from a furnace and has four wires coming off the motor, a red, a white, an orange, and a blue. I've tried a few combinations wiring it to a power cord and plugging it into an outlet but haven't gotten it to work. Here's a picture of the label.

MotorLabel.jpg


Any suggestions?
 
Ill bet shards


ill bet swords is your man he has helped on many jobs
 
What sort of electrical experience do you have. Do you have access to an ohmmeter? You can take a few measurements to help figure it out if you do. You might need a start up capacitor also. Make sure you use the correct gauge wire and ground it properly.
 
I have a little experience, like I made a DIY LED light for my 120g aquarium. I have a meter but haven't tried using it on the motor. What would I need to do? The motor has a capacitor on it but don't know if it works. I assume the red wire is for live and the white for neutral, and the blue and orange for speed control maybe. So I tried wiring the live to red and neutral to white, then doing things with the blue and orange. Like leaving them unhooked, wiring them together, wiring them with the red and/or white. And reversing the wiring. Everything I tried I dont get any sounds or movement, nothing. The fan blades spin freely by hand, and the motor looks in good shape. Tomorrow I'll go out and see what capacitor is on it.
 
First check to see if one of the wires is a ground. If not make sure you ground the chassis properly. Then check a couple of the wires and spin the fan. Check to see if the resistance changes when the fan spins. You are looking for the pair that does change when spinned. If it has a cap already wired up to it, then you shouldn't have to worry about wiring that up. That being said, the cap could be dry and need to be replaced. A lot of meters have a capacitance setting on them. It's been several years since I've had to do it, but google should be able to help from there. I can't stress enough making sure it is grounded properly. Maybe you know this well enough, but it would be irresponsible of me to assume so. This is where serious problems can occur.
 
Google is your friend: http://toad.net/~jsmeenen/motor.html

Note: DIY LED lighting is a lot different than messing around with 120/220 volt AC motors. A 930 rpm 1/4 - 1/3 horsepower motor will take off your fingers in a blink of an eye.
 
I couldn't find anything on the model number displayed there... but it may require a start/run capacitor to work.
Andrew
 
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