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Strange problem with air dryer

Bellaireroad

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Mar 22, 2013
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Fort Worth
So I’m scratching my head on this one. I have an IR D42 dryer and the fan doesn’t run. If I test input power at the female connection there is 120 volts, but when the fan is connected it does not run. So I thought I had a bad fan motor. Took the motor out and tested it on 120 and it runs fine. The spade connectors are good, so not a bad connection.

The fan power is switched off a circuit board..... would it be possible for the female plug to be showing 120, but not enough amps to turn the fan?
Wiring diagram here

https://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/d4/d4d9b05c-6b9f-43de-93da-f605d1693299.pdf

I have had nothing but problems with this unit... it has been to IR repair center twice . Sad thing is I’m using this in my garage, and probably use it twice a month. First time it crapped out at month 13 (12 month warranty) . They replaced the board and charged 700 dollars. It crapped out again last month.... five months after the repair. It was still under six months warranty. I took it into the shop and was expecting to get it fixed for free, but they told me I had a bad fan. It was gonna be another 500 to replace the fan. I wasn’t very happy about this, so the service manager gave me a part number on the fan, and a place where I could pick it up locally for $65. So I paid 160 for the bench time and took it home . Of course, the fan motor I bought for $65, is nothing even close to what’s in the dryer. However, I did use it to test, by hooking it up to the female plug, and it doesn’t run either. The female plugs shows 120 but neither fan will run when connected .
 
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mm08822

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Take pics of the board, both sides. Make sure the board components are in focus. Maybe there is a relay (mechanical or solid state) that is failing with the load it is switching.

Also identify the fan motor lead connection points on the board/edge connectors in the pics.
 

AntonLargiader

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The way I read it, you got 120 at the connector without the fan plugged in, and the fan runs when it's connected to 120 elsewhere, but you did not check for 120 when the fan was connected and supposed to be running Most likely the voltage is dropping out under load because of a problem elsewhere, like a bad connection of a semi-bad fuse.

Try to measure the voltage at that connector when the fan is plugged in. It practically has to be lower than 120, possibly zero.
 
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Bellaireroad

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The way I read it, you got 120 at the connector without the fan plugged in, and the fan runs when it's connected to 120 elsewhere, but you did not check for 120 when the fan was connected and supposed to be running Most likely the voltage is dropping out under load because of a problem elsewhere, like a bad connection of a semi-bad fuse.

Try to measure the voltage at that connector when the fan is plugged in. It practically has to be lower than 120, possibly zero.



Yes, that is exactly what is happening. When I took the unit in, the technician bench tested it. He said there was 120 going to the fan, so the fan must be bad. Obviously he did not check the fan itself.
However the fan runs fine when it is connected to 120 elsewhere.

Yes, just checked, it drops to zero at the connection.


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Bellaireroad

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Fort Worth
Take pics of the board, both sides. Make sure the board components are in focus. Maybe there is a relay (mechanical or solid state) that is failing with the load it is switching.



Also identify the fan motor lead connection points on the board/edge connectors in the pics.



I wish I could. I dropped my phone last week and the camera doesn’t work


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AntonLargiader

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Yes, just checked, it drops to zero at the connection

OK, then classic troubleshooting has you working your way back to find out where the voltage reappears.

But if the board stops supplying the proper voltage to the fan, then it seems like the board is bad which means you are under warranty.
 
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Bellaireroad

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Mar 22, 2013
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Fort Worth
Yes, exactly what I’m thinking as well....I’m going to get back to IR Monday and see if they will make good. I’m assuming this is a relay on the board


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