light dimmer switch on furnace type fan ?

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Cool ! I'm also gonna Y off of the duct so I can dump some heat too. The stove I built I think might be overkill for my shop even burning small loads but it didn't cost me any thing except welding rod as all materials I scarfed out of a dumpster.
 
Some dimmers you maybe can and others you can't. You can get fan motor speed control switches, but I believe the design of some motors will not work with speed control. Consequence might be overheat, burn out fire, or not work.
 
In general, most direct drive fans are PSC or shaded pole motors and can be slowed down with a triac type speed controller. Most belt drive blowers are split phase or capacitor start and don't like to be slowed down at all. Most of them will just blow the triac when they start. Dimmers are for lights and will not work for very long on a motor. Make sure you buy a genuine motor speed controller. Most are rated by amps and will have rather large heat sinks on them. They aren't very expensive.

Chris
 
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