Using a central ac blower as a fan, wiring info needed.

[BLACK DEATH]

I have a few central ac unit blower motors that I bought as I’ve seen a lot of people use them as fans in their garages or just to blow air when needed.
I have two 120 and one 240 or whatever the voltage is.
It has on the tag, hi, low medium with different color code for each wire.
How can I wire this up on a switch or switches so I can use each speed it has as I don’t need it to be on hi all the time or low all the time.
I know you may need a pic of the actual unit or tag it has but then maybe a few of you have already done this.

Pics are below of what I am referring to, if the links worked
https://goo.gl/images/sc5vNe

https://images.google.com/imgres?im...lyniy2g_ZvM:&vet=1&w=640&h=480&source=sh/x/im

 

[Brian_WK]

Rotary switch- Hot goes to the common on the switch and wire in your fan speeds to the terminals.

Brian

 

[BLACK DEATH]

Which one of them rotary switches? I see so many different ones but which one will not burn out

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

4sq metal box with a commercial switch cover.
Wire the neutral from an old extension cord to white wire from motor inside box.
Then wire the black wire from the cord to common side of 3way switch.
Then hook black wire from motor to one of the travelers on 3 way.
Hook red wire from motor to other side of 3 way.
Now you have a low and high speed to choose from when ever you plug it in.
You could also add a 2nd switch for on and off in the box if you want.

 

[ABSTIFFGS]

4sq metal box with a commercial switch cover.
Wire the neutral from an old extension cord to white wire from motor inside box.
Then wire the black wire from the cord to common side of 3way switch.
Then hook black wire from motor to one of the travelers on 3 way.
Hook red wire from motor to other side of 3 way.
Now you have a low and high speed to choose from when ever you plug it in.
You could also add a 2nd switch for on and off in the box if you want.

That is a really neat idea. I have an old squirrel cage fan I've turned into a floor fan. I've only hot high speed now. I'm going out to the garage to look at this.

EDIT this worked perfectly! I had a white which obviously is neutral, black-super mega high speed, yellow- slightly lower, blue- slightly lower yet, and red- super low speed. I wired a single pole switch first then to the common of a 3-way as described, I used the black and the blue. Thanks for posting this info Zmax.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

That is a really neat idea. I have an old squirrel cage fan I've turned into a floor fan. I've only hot high speed now. I'm going out to the garage to look at this.

EDIT this worked perfectly! I had a white which obviously is neutral, black-super mega high speed, yellow- slightly lower, blue- slightly lower yet, and red- super low speed. I wired a single pole switch first then to the common of a 3-way as described, I used the black and the blue. Thanks for posting this info Zmax.

Da nada.

 

[Bert_]

You will probably need to block off part of the outlet on that fan. They are designed to work with some restriction like a ducted system and furnace filters. The motor will usually be overloaded without any restriction.

Check the motor nameplate for FLA, then use a amp meter to check the running current.

 

[KenC]

You will probably need to block off part of the outlet on that fan. They are designed to work with some restriction like a ducted system and furnace filters. The motor will usually be overloaded without any restriction.

Check the motor nameplate for FLA, then use a amp meter to check the running current.

Yep, nearly burned one up when I built my first one. Left it on for a while then notices a 'hot' smell. Checked the draw and it was way over spec. I throttled the inlet by using furnace filters. Killed two birds, one stone, filtered sanding dust out of the air and dropped the amps to the correct level.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

You will probably need to block off part of the outlet on that fan. They are designed to work with some restriction like a ducted system and furnace filters. The motor will usually be overloaded without any restriction.

Check the motor nameplate for FLA, then use a amp meter to check the running current.

^^This^^ A small piece of sheet metal zip screwed or pop riveted to the lower part of the outlet (closest to the round part of the housing) should do it. Put it on with duct tape until you find the sweet spot with your ammeter.

Tommy

 

[BLACK DEATH]

What if you dont run it on it’s highest speed, do you still need to restrict the flow?
One of them has a 2” plate already
The switch you all speak of is it like a 3 way light switch?

 

[ABSTIFFGS]

Yes, this is how mine turned out. Worked perfectly. I played with the 4 different colors to get the 2 speeds I wanted.

Edit- I think if you click on the little icon it will bring pic up. I haven’t fully figured out Flickr yet. Damn you photobucket!

 

[BLACK DEATH]

Now I see the pic and understand.
So you can only utilize 2 speeds then?
Or add another switchand have all 4 speeds?

 

[marinusdees]

You will probably need to block off part of the outlet on that fan. They are designed to work with some restriction like a ducted system and furnace filters. The motor will usually be overloaded without any restriction.

Check the motor nameplate for FLA, then use a amp meter to check the running current.

Typically, the motor will have overload protection (read, circuit breaker) and if unrestricted, will trip the Klixon. When the Klixon cools off, it will reset and the fan will restart.

 

[ABSTIFFGS]

Now I see the pic and understand.
So you can only utilize 2 speeds then?
Or add another switchand have all 4 speeds?

With a 3 way you can only utilize 2 of the speeds.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

Most older blower motors are only 3 speed anyway,I'd just use low and high.

 

[BLACK DEATH]

Sometimes that hi speed is just way too much....

 

[Brian_WK]

This rotary switch will work AMAZON LINK
Pos. 0, all terminals open.
Pos. 1, connects T-1 to T-2 only
Pos. 2, connects T-3 to T-4 only
Pos. 3, connects T-5 to T-6 only
Run the hot wire to T-1 and jumper T- 1, 3, & 5 together. Terminals 2, 4, and 6 independently go to the 3 speeds. Run the neutral on the fan to the neutral on the cord.

Brian

 

[Milton Shaw]

A lot of those motors also had a run/start capacitor for whatever reason. Don't forget to leave these wired in. I used one of these fans to make a downdraft dust collector used 3 20x20 x2 inch pleated filter and made the top out of 1x2 hard maple strips with 1 by spacers to create air flow. Works really well for projects that will fit on it.

 

[BLACK DEATH]

Brian, that looks perfect, or I hope it is what I need