Dan Lenski wrote:

Sam Goldwasser wrote:

I'm not convinced that it's a coincidence. If you really sprayed grease
inside the motor, you may have gotten it on the contacts of the centrifugal
switch that is supposed to interrupt the circuit to the start cap once the
motor gets up to speed. If the start cap remains energized for more than
the time needed to start, it will do exactly what you describe quite quickly.

So, at the very least, you should check the AC voltage on the start cap
using a meter that reads only AC (not the DC omponent). It should go to
0 VAC once the motor is turning at normal speed. If not, you'll have to
disassemble the motor and determine what's going on. And have your safety
goggles on while doing it!


That's a really good point, Sam. I have no idea if this motor has that
type of switch or not. It's a Westinghouse 1/2 hp motor. Is the
switch internal to the motor, or might it be external? If it's
internal, then I really doubt I could have gotten any grease on it...
but if external then I suppose there's a possibility.

In any case I'll buy 2 new caps since they're only $8.

Dan

I've seen a variety of those types of switches.
Air pump driven, Magnetic Drag driven, bearing slip driven etc.
all usually have a return spring or something to force the switch
back into it's starting point again. Most common one's i've seen are
magnetic and get pulled from the shaft when it's spinning. you might
want to pull the back cover off the motor to make sure the mags still
are there or have some life in them. Heat over time can kill them and
thus not switch off the cap also, also a fused set of contacts don't
help;



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