[ruuufuhbock]

Had a rear load dairy case and a wall produce case both do.the.same thing today. No airflow on both 4' sections. Have them unloaded to find fans running pulled power to see if coils were blocked or frozen. Both clear. Plug fans back in and boom great airflow. The only thing I.could come up with is that somehow the fans started and ran backward. Anyone ever seen this?? Had a lot more to do so didn't have a lot of time to dig into it but I was able to spin.motor by hand and run it backwards and recreate.the low airflow scenario.so we'll keep an eye on it for now. Any thoughts?

 

[WT70]

Standard 6w or 9w fan motors or digital? I have seen the digital ones do it from time to time. Never tried to find an explanation.

 

[ruuufuhbock]

They were ao smith 9207f2 ecm motors. I thought they did a rotation check.before starting?

 

[WT70]

It was the ECM motors I was having the same problem with. I'm not sure how they go about starting, but these would rock back and forth a couple of times then usually take off the right direction. But on occasion the don't. Technology. Go figure.

 

[jpsmith1cm]

In general, I do not like ECM motors in cases.

I've replaced more of them than of the standard shaded pole type.

I've also seen things like this happen. No explanation. Log and document it and, if it happens again, dump the motors.

 

[Kelly T]

The ECM do run backwards on occasion, this always drives me nuts and is a pain when power goes out late at night and comes back on and I get a 2 am call that the temp is going up. I have not found a permanent solution to remedy this as of yet.
Besides putting in a good old fashion unit bearing fan motor.

 

[ruuufuhbock]

That sounds about right, anything marketed to save money seems to be unreliable. Any repeat offenders?

 

[WT70]

Ever notice how much more this cost saving crap costs?


Excuse me, I don't mean crap... I mean, uhm... er.. uh... Ok.. I mean crap.

 

[ruuufuhbock]

So is it safe to say that the ecm type tend to have a shorter life than a regular shaded pole?

 

[jpsmith1cm]

So is it safe to say that the ecm type tend to have a shorter life than a regular shaded pole?

I've seen shaded pole motors running underwater and they are still running today.

MENTION water in the vicinity of most ECMs and *poof*

 

[WT70]

Whats even more fun are the Hussmann ECM's... the hub/motor/blade assembly... bust a blade.. change the whole thing.

 

[jpsmith1cm]

Whats even more fun are the Hussmann ECM's... the hub/motor/blade assembly... bust a blade.. change the whole thing.

Hill/Phoenix does that, too.

 

[refertecbd]

I seen a lot of the ECM motors come unplugged for no reason also? Got a motor not running go to change it and find it unplugged, plug it in and its fine. Never found a reason behind this phenomena.

 

[WT70]

I seen a lot of the ECM motors come unplugged for no reason also? Got a motor not running go to change it and find it unplugged, plug it in and its fine. Never found a reason behind this phenomena.

It's J's Chimpanzee running around unplugging them.

The only thing I have ever come up with on the fans coming unplugged is if any moisture gets in the plug, it freezes, and slowly pushes the plug out of the socket. Now, of course this in only going to apply to FF cases. MT cases I'm still leaning towards the Chimp.

 

[refertecbd]

It's J's Chimpanzee running around unplugging them.

The only thing I have ever come up with on the fans coming unplugged is if any moisture gets in the plug, it freezes, and slowly pushes the plug out of the socket. Now, of course this in only going to apply to FF cases. MT cases I'm still leaning towards the Chimp.

I like that Chimp he makes money for me:cheers:

 

[trippintl0]

Had a walk-in cooler startup today with 2 ECM motors, looked like regular 16w unit bearing motors. After about 10 minutes of running, left fan shuts off, then straightens up / aligns, and 10 seconds later takes off. I thought, that's weird. Then 10 minutes later, the other fan did the same exact thing!! I thought, that's weird. After I saw it happen 3 or 4 more times, I thought, dang I guess I need to check it. Plugs are tight, never saw any voltage drop, voltage is correct per evaporator nameplate. Called manufacturer, guy at tech support said, "I hate those motors! Order 2 new ones!" Funny stuff!

 

[pepeLePew]

ECM motors cost twice as much and last half as long--but they save money ??

If I find 1 running backwards I always change it. Mark it as "runs backwards" and throw it in the "emergency only" parts or throw it away. I used to restart 'em 5 times and if they were good 5 out of 5 times............but the first time I had to come back the next day for the same problem, well it wont be the last, but not cause of those dang motors !!

 

[jpsmith1cm]

They aren't worth a callback.


Change the mo-fo.

 

[pherman]

I don't give them a second chance. I change it if they're backwards. Besides I'm only pulling product once!

 

[pollostar]

Depends on the type of electric motor in the fan.If it's a simple DC motor all you need to do is reverse the polarity of its connections.DPDT or DPCO switch should allow you do this , but you might need a separate on/off switch.

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