bad controller? eko

[Rugar]

My blower isn't responding in any way. Shows 110 volt on both wires from controller both when turned to fire or off. Am I missing something. Is controller bad or blower.
Thanks.

 

[stee6043]

I know you've posted a couple times. The fact that you've sparked and had some mod's done to the fan (capacitor) is likely encouraging people from avoiding providing any tips on this. You may do well to call New Horizon. Either a new fan and/or new controller may be in order. Hard to tell from your descriptions, I'm afraid.

 

[Fred61]

Disconnect the wires from the controller and then measure the output. That should tell you if the problem is with the motor or the controller.

 

[Rugar]

Thanks for the reply guys. The capacitor was suggested by dave at cozy heat a few years ago and worked well. I've left messages with cozy heat and New Horizon with no reply yet. Just didn't want to buy unnecessary parts. I've tested wires hooked up and get 110 volt readings with fan set to 70%. 110 doesn't seem like a reading I should get. I'll have to unplug everything and check then, thanks for the good Idea. There are 3 wires from controller correct me if wrong, hot, neutral, and safety ground. Two of them are hot when tested hooked up. Or could it be hot, ground and control.
Thanks

 

[Rugar]

I'm thinking blower is dead. I tested the capacitor and meter goes up and drops in a second, looks good. Disconnected wires from controller to fan and now I only get 110v reading from one line meaning short in motor back feeding--- right?
Spoke to New Horizon and he says motors never go bad it has to be capacitor. I've had capacitor go bad before and motor hums. This time there is no hum. Everything to me sounds like blower. The blower spins freely even when the controller is set to make it run. I would love some feedback. Getting tired of burning propane.

 

[BoiledOver]

I cannot help much in the electrinics area. My theory is to keep extras of everything that can fail and make a quick swap from the shelf. The cost of a capacitor will be way less than the blower, it may be a good idea to try that first. Or, just get a new blower assembly and one extra capictor. Swap the assembly and repair the original to keep as your spare.

 

[ewdudley]

My theory is to keep extras of everything that can fail and make a quick swap from the shelf.

Just because it's the easiest strategy doesn't mean it can't be the best. Keep spares of what you can and save the brain teasers for some other time when the house is warm.

 

[Fred61]

You've confirmed that the problem is downstream from the controller. Now you're in an area that's beyond my capacity. As a "seat of the pants" tinkerer, I would bypass the capacitor and hook the motor direct and use a source of power other than the controller. If it doesn't spin, give it a push with your finger or low pressure air to get it up to "run" speed and it should keep going. These motors are originally built to run at 50 cycle. Be careful if you use air to NOT over rev the rotor. Will damage the bearings.

 

[avc8130]

Are you sure the capacitor is just a "start" capacitor and not a "run" capacitor? Bypassing the capacitor could be a bad idea.

ac

 

[BoilerMan]

The cap on all small motors is a run cap, like in a taco 007 for example. The capacitor "splits" the single phase making a false lagging phase so the low torque motor spins in the same direction every time it starts. A start only cap motor will have a centrifigual switch like on an air compressor or water pump. This switch takes the cap out of the circuit once a certain RPM (usually 1000-2000) is made.

You where is the capacitor? Near the motor or near the controller?

TS

 

[avc8130]

The cap on all small motors is a run cap, like in a taco 007 for example. The capacitor "splits" the single phase making a false lagging phase so the low torque motor spins in the same direction every time it starts. A start only cap motor will have a centrifigual switch like on an air compressor or water pump. This switch takes the cap out of the circuit once a certain RPM (usually 1000-2000) is made.

You where is the capacitor? Near the motor or near the controller?

TS

Thanks for clarifying that. The EKO has variable blower speeds, right? So the cap might be like a ceiling fan where there are different capacitance for the different speeds?

ac

 

[Rugar]

I need some understanding on how controller works. There are three wires going to blower from controller. As long as main switch on controller is on the brown wire is always 110v. Is this right? Second wire slightly raises needle on meter. I get the same readings regardless if controller is set to fire or standby. Again is my problem controller or blower and how to distinguish.