PE Summit blower electrical problem

[marquisvii]

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I'll try to make this short.

My retailer took my Summit Insert to a welder to fix a cracked weld covered under warranty. When I got the unit back the blower fans were all messed up. Wouldn't run at full speed, and then I realized the right side blower was actually spinning backwards. The left side was spinning really slow and I realized the bearings are somewhat seized (they were fine when they took it from me). Then it popped and everything stopped working completely. I know it's unlikely, but possible that welding could zap electric componentry under certain circumstances. Retailer is awful and let's just say I'm on my own now.

I bought a new right side blower, hooked it up and still nothing works. I put a multi meter to the leads and when I turn the power on I get 1V, which is not enough to even make anything happen. Specs of the motor are:

120V
60Hz
35W

...and I'm getting 1V? I figured if I had issues it would be no power at all, or at least a better indicator of which direction I should look to next.

Any ideas? It's getting cold around here....

 

[begreen]

Could be that the speed control is fried, especially if this happens in Manual mode as well as Automatic.

 

[Enplater]

Yeah I always disconnect the battery when welding to a car, some will unplug the computers too so they don’t get fried. I suppose it’s possible the welder fried the motor through it being grounded to the stove but I wouldn’t think so.
The fan spinning reverse, I would think the polarity got reversed somehow, if that’s even possible.
My fan has a normal plug that goes in the wall, then goes through the variable switch, then through the snap disk, then to the motor, then back to the neutral (white wire usually). Then back to the wall plug.
Did you check for power at the outlet? When you said it “popped” it may have tripped that breaker. Also in my case, it won’t have power to the fan motor if it hasn’t got hot enough to switch on the snap disk.

 

[Enplater]

If you’re a half way decent electrician you can make a jumper wire and jump the switch and/or the snap disk if you have one.
The wiring is pretty simple, it shouldn’t be too hard to diag

 

[begreen]

The running in reverse is odd. These are AC motors but there is a left and a right side blower on this insert so maybe it was installed on the wrong side?

 

[marquisvii]

The breaker didn't blow and there's still power to the unit. Doesn't matter if the power switch is in the hard ON position or in the other position that sends it to the snap disc first. I've tried it with/without the snap disc connected and it doesn't make a difference - I still get 1V of power. Testing with a jump wire to the left side blower to see if that one works might tell me something..... If that one doesn't work, the idea that it's the speed control seems likely to me - that's the only other in-line component, I believe?

 

[marquisvii]

I just took it apart a bit and I can now see that it has to be the speed controller. I have 120v before the controller, and 1v after it. Part ordered. I'll post my result next week assuming I have it installed by then.

 

[Enplater]

You could tell for sure if you hooked up an ohm meter or oscilloscope to see if the switch is working but you’re probably right. Please let us know.

 

[begreen]

It's in series with the hot leg so it's easier just to jumper it out of the circuit to test.

 

[marquisvii]

New speed controller = fixed. That's all folks!

 

[Enplater]

Good work