How long should evap cooler motors last?

Except that it is for physical conditions, not mental.

For that... and you... Chlorpromazine, AKA Thorazine, AKA M&Ms. I would suggest 500mg, at least twice a day.

Joerg wrote in news:auadqmFnmpdU1 @mid.individual.net:

Of course Made in China.

In Mexiko, and sold at probably 90% profit margin. IMHO not a very good design.

Soak in PB Blaster, might come off in a day or two. And rewind the stator. I think PB Blaster is better than liquid wrench.

Cheers

That motor is toast. The shaft rusted and one of the squirrel cages didn't come off. I have never seen this much rust on a motor after only three years. So I had to saw the 1/2" shaft off with a bare blade by hand (!), with an old sock as a handle. Took me a whole hour but I find the results show of Dancing with the Stars that SWMBO always watches boring so did it then. Pounded out the remnants of the shaft.

The motor has also thoroughly cooked itself out because the overheat protection (if it really has one as stated ...) didn't come on. Cinged paint, twisted metal, a mess.

The cooler manufacturer was not willing to pick up part of the tab, made me pay over $100 total at full price. So if anyone thinks about buying a cooler you now know. It's from Essick (also sold as Champion) and IMHO the quality is rather poor. Next time I will look at other brands.

Which brings up a point: Since I must use this lousy motor design again so it fits, would a slight brushing of oil prevent it from rusting again? Or silicone grease? Vaseline?

Astroglide Gel >:-} ...Jim Thompson

If you mean where the fan is on the shaft (or similar) use anti-seize or loctite (different aims but similar in the rust realm - they fill the gaps so rust can't.) loctite aids in staying put, can be helped off with heat when the time comes. If things stay put well enough anti-seize is less fuss at removal time.

Other than that, something like LPS3 or Kano's prev-ox may help with overall surface rusting. So might vaseline/grease, though it will collect more gunk, probably.

How will we know when you start smoking it?

The original 'Breakfree' was the best I ever used, but I can only find a different version that is made for guns and sold under the 'Winchester' name. Walmart has it in the sporting goods section.

Well, I did it the old-fashioned way. Sawed it off, put the squirrel cage mount on a pipe fitting sitting on an anvil, then pounded the sawed of shaft until it flew out the other side.

Here's hoping that the new motor arrives before it gets hot out here.

After all that work, you should have installed a pulley, thus making the next replacement easier... maybe use a quality motor next time? ...Jim Thompson

Did it during the Dancing with the Stars results show. I like to see the ballroom dancing on Mondays but the results show is boring. However, SWMBO absolutely disagrees with that assessment, so ...

In this cooler there is barely any space to mount a belt and external motor. Plus it would have cost a bundle, new bigger squirrel cage + two mounts + shaft + pulley + belt + motor + motor mount = Lotsa $$$ plus work. And with some luck it'll start massive corrosion where I have to drill.

Also, I didn't want to make a science project out of this. Just received confirmation that Fedex will deliver the new motor this coming Tuesday.

Sawing & hammering sounds like a great way to ruin the fan's balance.

Wot balance?

After receiving the new (!) unit the first thing I had to do was balance both squirrel cages. They wobbled like crazy. Obviously it was asking to much of the manufacturer to expect a properly balanced set.

Carburator cleaner in the gallon can ought to do the trick as well. May not be easy to find now. Readily available only 20 some years ago.

?-)

Replace as much of the affected parts as you can with custom built SS. Also have the motor shaft black chromed. Then silicone grease as well.

?-)

Well, I don't think I'll spend that much money on an evap cooler. What might happen some day is that I build my own cooler from scratch. Probably from aircraft aluminum. It will also have VF driven motors instead of a simple two-speed motor. And it will be better than this commercial junk, guaranteed.

Making the louvers will be a major pain, or I'd have to find ready-made parts for that.