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Ain't That Cool!
Aug. 6th, 2020 06:41 pmThis afternoon when I logged off of Day Jobbe, Lisa was ready to try to replace the fan motor on the travel trailer's air conditioner. I will start with a spoiler: It works! But getting there wasn't easy.
( The Dirty Business )
With the unit cleaned out, Lisa tried to remove the old motor. This was much more difficult than expected. The motor sits between the radiator fan (shown in one of the photos above) and a "squirrel cage" fan on the condenser side. To remove the motor, you have to disconnect a small screw that secures the squirrel-cage fan to the motor shaft. Except she couldn't get at the screw. It's inside a sub-assembly that defied her attempts to access it, and scraped up her hands for her efforts.
Normally, I'm not a fan of instructional videos, but in this case I'm glad that I was able to find this video about replacing the motor on a similar unit, which gave us the hint needed to get at that blasted screw. Even then it's something that makes one nervous, because you're twisting the metal pipes that hold the AC coolant, and if they break, it's game over.
Eventually, Lisa was able to work the holding screw off the squirrel-cage fan, remove the old motor, and fit the new one into place and re-attach the holding screw. After that, she very carefully moved the condenser unit back into place and secured it. Then came the second-most difficult part: the wiring.
( Getting Wired )
With the motor back in place, the fans secured, and the wiring done, it was time to try the acid test. Lisa came down from the roof, plugged the power back in (everything was unplugged while she was working on it, of course), and turned on the switch. The fan immediately sprang to life! Then she cut in the condenser and waited a few minutes. Cold air!
We're not completely finished, but after putting away all of the tools and doing initial tidying up, Lisa was completely beat, and I don't blame her. All I did was sit in the shade and fetch tools when needed. (Lisa was in the shade as well, from the carport shelter. Also, it was cooler today, with the air temperature only 27°C in the shade rather than ten degrees hotter like it was last week.)
The swamp cooler will stay in place until at least tomorrow. I suggested that Lisa run the tank town all the way. (Swamp cooler pump motors are designed to run dry without harm.) That way it will be easier to take down, as the cooler is very light without any water in it.
I plan to see if we can have the existing motor rebuilt, as we assume it's either the bearings or the windings, and it would be good to have a working spare should this one give out. It's hard to complain too much about how long this one has lasted: 25 years.
Should everything work as planned, we'll start the rest of the clean-up and tear-down, and box up the swamp cooler and clear the "ziggurat" of pallets in the carport tomorrow or over the weekend. I'm really glad this worked, and that we were able to work around the problems until the part arrived and Lisa could make the repairs.
( The Dirty Business )
With the unit cleaned out, Lisa tried to remove the old motor. This was much more difficult than expected. The motor sits between the radiator fan (shown in one of the photos above) and a "squirrel cage" fan on the condenser side. To remove the motor, you have to disconnect a small screw that secures the squirrel-cage fan to the motor shaft. Except she couldn't get at the screw. It's inside a sub-assembly that defied her attempts to access it, and scraped up her hands for her efforts.
Normally, I'm not a fan of instructional videos, but in this case I'm glad that I was able to find this video about replacing the motor on a similar unit, which gave us the hint needed to get at that blasted screw. Even then it's something that makes one nervous, because you're twisting the metal pipes that hold the AC coolant, and if they break, it's game over.
Eventually, Lisa was able to work the holding screw off the squirrel-cage fan, remove the old motor, and fit the new one into place and re-attach the holding screw. After that, she very carefully moved the condenser unit back into place and secured it. Then came the second-most difficult part: the wiring.
( Getting Wired )
With the motor back in place, the fans secured, and the wiring done, it was time to try the acid test. Lisa came down from the roof, plugged the power back in (everything was unplugged while she was working on it, of course), and turned on the switch. The fan immediately sprang to life! Then she cut in the condenser and waited a few minutes. Cold air!
We're not completely finished, but after putting away all of the tools and doing initial tidying up, Lisa was completely beat, and I don't blame her. All I did was sit in the shade and fetch tools when needed. (Lisa was in the shade as well, from the carport shelter. Also, it was cooler today, with the air temperature only 27°C in the shade rather than ten degrees hotter like it was last week.)
The swamp cooler will stay in place until at least tomorrow. I suggested that Lisa run the tank town all the way. (Swamp cooler pump motors are designed to run dry without harm.) That way it will be easier to take down, as the cooler is very light without any water in it.
I plan to see if we can have the existing motor rebuilt, as we assume it's either the bearings or the windings, and it would be good to have a working spare should this one give out. It's hard to complain too much about how long this one has lasted: 25 years.
Should everything work as planned, we'll start the rest of the clean-up and tear-down, and box up the swamp cooler and clear the "ziggurat" of pallets in the carport tomorrow or over the weekend. I'm really glad this worked, and that we were able to work around the problems until the part arrived and Lisa could make the repairs.
