On 04/21/2011 11:28 PM, RS at work wrote:
On Apr 20, 1:33 pm, wrote:
On Apr 18, 1:03 pm, Gunner wrote:
snippage



Here in the desert..we run swamp coolers 24/7 at least 5 months..often
times 6 months of the year.

Mine is a MasterCool brand, that normally takes a 3/4hp motor. These
motors (AW Smith typically) go bad every year, or every other year.
.

How do these motors fail? Lack of lube or bad bearings? Shorted
windings? Bad starter switches or caps? Are they selling you low-
duty cycle motors when you need one with a continuous rating?




I second this question. It seems to me you must have an inappropriate
spec on your motor or something. Your blower has an optimal speed for
best efficiency and will require a given amount of power to move a
given amount of air. It might be the case where you have the wrong
pulley set up on the unit and have to over tighten the fan belt to
keep it from slipping and that is taking out the bearings in the
motor.

I think you should be able to get 10 to 20 years or more out of a
motor doing nothing more than lubricating and replacing bearings.
Heck you could probably get a motor that had oil cups and drip cans
feeding babbit bearings and get virtually zero wear on the bearings.

Roger Shoaf

These are dry-duty motors used in a wet-duty application.

In West Texas about 40 years ago, the swamp cooler or "mud sucker" was
very popular, but the pumps lasted 4-6 months and the motors about 1
year. So much scale you have never seen.