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Furnace Blower Wiring Part 2

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Furnace Blower Wiring Part 2 smcjensen 02-24-2008
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Posted by smcjensen on February 24, 2008, 11:42 am
I have a furnace blower I want to use as a shop exhaust fan. It's a
GE ECM motor meaning it has electronic controls mounted on the motor,
however, you can remove the control module and behind it are three
wires going to the motor, black, blue, red. There are no other wires
coming from the motor. There's also a capacitor mounted to the
housing. The motor says it's 120/240 volt 1 HP. I have 120 juice
close to the motor and I have a 220 outlet for band and table saw not
so conveniently located but presumably I could tap into that if
necessary.

So, which colors on the motor connect to which colors in the home
wiring?

Which color wire would go to the capacitor?

If I have to tap in behind the higher voltage outlet what's the best
way to work in an on/off switch other than using the breaker as my
switch?

Posted by RBM on February 24, 2008, 12:29 pm

>I have a furnace blower I want to use as a shop exhaust fan. It's a
> GE ECM motor meaning it has electronic controls mounted on the motor,
> however, you can remove the control module and behind it are three
> wires going to the motor, black, blue, red. There are no other wires
> coming from the motor. There's also a capacitor mounted to the
> housing. The motor says it's 120/240 volt 1 HP. I have 120 juice
> close to the motor and I have a 220 outlet for band and table saw not
> so conveniently located but presumably I could tap into that if
> necessary.
>
> So, which colors on the motor connect to which colors in the home
> wiring?
>
> Which color wire would go to the capacitor?
>
> If I have to tap in behind the higher voltage outlet what's the best
> way to work in an on/off switch other than using the breaker as my
> switch?

If the blower was used on a furnace, it's probably already connected for 120
volt. I would assume that the capacitor is already wired to the motor. In
any event there should be a diagram on the motor or in the cabinet, showing
it's wiring.



Posted by Joe on February 24, 2008, 2:09 pm
> I have a furnace blower I want to use as a shop exhaust fan. =A0It's a
> GE ECM motor meaning it has electronic controls mounted on the motor,
> however, you can remove the control module and behind it are three
> wires going to the motor, black, blue, red. =A0There are no other wires
> coming from the motor. =A0There's also a capacitor mounted to the
> housing. =A0The motor says it's 120/240 volt 1 HP.

A 1 HP exhaust fan sounds a bit hairy for the typical shop. Are there
some unusual reasons you need such a beast? Just curious.

Joe


Posted by Eric9822 on February 24, 2008, 2:48 pm
> I have a furnace blower I want to use as a shop exhaust fan. =A0It's a
> GE ECM motor meaning it has electronic controls mounted on the motor,
> however, you can remove the control module and behind it are three
> wires going to the motor, black, blue, red. =A0There are no other wires
> coming from the motor. =A0There's also a capacitor mounted to the
> housing. =A0The motor says it's 120/240 volt 1 HP. =A0I have 120 juice
> close to the motor and I have a 220 outlet for band and table saw not
> so conveniently located but presumably I could tap into that if
> necessary.
>
> So, which colors on the motor connect to which colors in the home
> wiring?
>
> Which color wire would go to the capacitor?
>
> If I have to tap in behind the higher voltage outlet what's the best
> way to work in an on/off switch other than using the breaker as my
> switch?

If you haven't already you may try a google search for the particular
ECM motor you have. The ones I know of are actually brushless DC
motors and the "control module" is what converts the AC to DC. You
can't remove the controller and hook the motor directly to AC. Try
posting all nameplate data on the motor.

Posted by Don Young on February 24, 2008, 10:07 pm

>I have a furnace blower I want to use as a shop exhaust fan. It's a
> GE ECM motor meaning it has electronic controls mounted on the motor,
> however, you can remove the control module and behind it are three
> wires going to the motor, black, blue, red. There are no other wires
> coming from the motor. There's also a capacitor mounted to the
> housing. The motor says it's 120/240 volt 1 HP. I have 120 juice
> close to the motor and I have a 220 outlet for band and table saw not
> so conveniently located but presumably I could tap into that if
> necessary.
>
> So, which colors on the motor connect to which colors in the home
> wiring?
>
> Which color wire would go to the capacitor?
>
> If I have to tap in behind the higher voltage outlet what's the best
> way to work in an on/off switch other than using the breaker as my
> switch?
You can't use that motor without its electronic controller and it may be
rather complicated to figure out how to use it even with the controller.
Incidentially, my son recently paid about $400 for one of those controllers
and the whole motor would have been close to $800. So you may want to find a
sale to someone who can use it for its intended purpose.

Don Young



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