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View Full Version : Need help with very old fan motor



aaCharley
06-29-2009, 10:11 PM
My home was built in 1940. It is a 1 1/2 story house with full basement. I just replaced the AC and furnace with a dual fuel Rheem heat pump and gas system with the blower unit located in the basement. For any number of reasons that I'm sure you could start naming, the AC does not do very well on the second floor. There are three floor vents up there but I'm sure the cold air sinks to the first floor before it cools much.

The house has an attic fan mounted upright in a tunnel. The fan pulls air from louvers in the second floor ceiling, into the tunnel, and then exhausts into the attic where it leaves through the gable ends. The ceiling hole is also the peak / attic access (remove the louvers) and it is 20" X 20". About the time I was having the new system installed last fall the fan quit. I asked the contractor to take a look at it to see about getting it running again. He didn't have time when installing the HP/furnace. However, he was here a few days ago to check the humidity control on the HP/furnace. I got him to check out the fan at that time. Not good. Motor shot. We need help finding a replacement motor.

The motor is a Fasco, but they are not able to cross reference it. The control for the fan has three speeds and also a timer for the on/off. I'm hoping someone here will have some old material which will give me an idea of what to replace it with. The numbers from the motor:
Fasco 4 pole motor. It is a direct drive connection to the fan.
Rochester, NY.
4A1A61R
115V
2.3 Amp
Shaded Pole, Clockwise shaft rotation and 3/8" shaft.

Any help sure would be appreciated. I don't use the fan very much but it sure does a good job of getting rid of some of the heat up there and pulling some more cool air to that floor when it does get hot. One suggestion the contractor made was to just get one of the gable end fans and put that up there. It would fit but I don't believe it would work with the different speeds. And I've seen some of the "Whole House" fans but they are pretty big and won't fit through the hole, making for a big carpentry job. That is not very appealing either.

beenthere
06-29-2009, 10:28 PM
Your contrator can take it to one of his regular motor shops, and get a replacement for it.

hvaclover
06-29-2009, 11:00 PM
Your contrator can take it to one of his regular motor shops, and get a replacement for it.

Wanna bet?

Joe Harper
06-29-2009, 11:40 PM
Here is a close match
http://www.emotorstore.com/productdetail.asp_Q_catID_E_3_A_subCatID_E_234_A_p roductID_E_389_A_skuID_E_25693

aaCharley
06-30-2009, 12:03 AM
Your contrator can take it to one of his regular motor shops, and get a replacement for it.

He took it to one of the electrical supply places he uses and they could not find anything. I'm not sure what they tried to match it with. The Fasco cross match was not any help. He had some leak problems to take care of so I told him I would try to find something and he could go on with another call. I called Fasco and got through to tech support. They were helpful but without a match for the motor.

aaCharley
06-30-2009, 12:18 AM
Here is a close match
http://www.emotorstore.com/productdetail.asp_Q_catID_E_3_A_subCatID_E_234_A_p roductID_E_389_A_skuID_E_25693

Thank you for looking that up.
It is close. I did not mention that the motor is a 4.4" diameter motor. Your suggestion is for a 5" motor so that the bolt pattern will not work. The one I have "may be" a 1500 RPM motor, based upon how Fasco does them now. In today's system the 4 pole windings are 1500 rpm. The 6 pole winding is 1050 rpm, for whatever that is worth in adding to your storehouse of knowledge.

Would anyone have a suggestion of a fan that would work for that application. One thing the lady in the tech support mentioned is that some of the Fasco motors are designed for unattended applications. If it gets to hot it will shut down permanently so that there will not be a fire. She thought that would be necessary. Maybe I'm lucky I did not have an attic fire from this one?

aaCharley
06-30-2009, 12:40 AM
Here is a close match
http://www.emotorstore.com/productdetail.asp_Q_catID_E_3_A_subCatID_E_234_A_p roductID_E_389_A_skuID_E_25693

Looking at the other offereings on that site I found this one:
http://www.emotorstore.com/productdetail.asp_Q_catID_E_2_A_subCatID_E_228_A_p roductID_E_418_A_skuID_E_25630

The extra long shaft length should not be a problem in my application, if it is not a problem in only loading one end or one side of the motor. I'm assuming that both sides will have four bolts for attachment?