On Nov 26, 7:30*am, Mark wrote:
On Nov 25, 10:21*pm, wrote:





On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:06:44 -0800, Bob wrote:
Ulysses wrote:
Anyone have any links showing howwashingmachinemotors work? *I have a
Kenmore that's perhaps 10 years old and themotorwill sometimes run,
sometimes just buzz. *There is some kind of switch thingy attached to the
wiring harness that looks sorta like a micro switch. *There is a mechanism
with two springs attached that I think has something to do with getting the
motorstarted.

The mechanism with two springs is a centrifugal switch. *Themotorhas
two sets of windings. *One is energized when themotorstarts. *Once
it's spinning fast enough to activate the centrifugal mechanism, it in
turn activates the microswitch to energize the "run" windings. *A common
problem with these motors is the centrifugal mechanism getting clogged
with lint. *Clean out the dust and lint with compressed air to see if
that fixes themotor.

The "run" winding is permanently connected. The "start" switch
connects the start winding untill themotorcomes up to latching speed
- then it disconnects. If the start switch does not make contact only
the run winding is energized, and the poormotordoes not know which
way to turn and is incapable of producing any starting torque - so it
just buzzes.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

yes, the start switch should be ON when themotoris stopped.. this
connects the start winding... * when you apply power, power flows
through the start switch contacts to the start winding... *when themotorstarts spinning, some weights should move the start switch to
OFF and *disconnect the start winding.

without the start winding themotorwill hum but will not start and
will probably overheat in a short time... * or you can start it by
hand as a test....

with the start winding temporarily connected, themotorwill start.

if you do not disconnect the start winding once themotorstarts, it
will overheat in a short time.

the start winding pulls a lot of power to get themotorstarted but is
not designed to be on full time

(this is a simplifed explination leaving out the part about the phase
offset)

Mark- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

From what you are saying these problems could be caused by a bad
switch or stuck centrifugal weights. It also sounds like I need to
understand "phase offset" in order to really understand what's wrong
here. I know a little about phases when applied to 240VAC and
generators but my mind is a blank when it comes to 120VAC.

Meanwhile, back to my search for a switch....