I literally did everything to our swamp cooler last year, and we just bought a new motor today, and yesturday when I went to check on what kind we needed I literally found tools shooting on top that have been there for over a year, and surprisingly they weren't rusted or fucked up thankfully.
I worked for an insurance adjuster here in Phoenix seen a few homes burn down from swamp coolers that were not maintained. I change the belt once a year and check everything over oil the shaft bearings. Clean the pad or replace it been just replacing mine every year I have a 6600CFM downdraft mastercool.
Matt, good tutorial, thanks. By the way, the "AMB" on the motor specs panel is the rise in temperature that the motor will undergo while it's running. The "40 deg" is a 40 deg Celcius rise above ambient temperature inside the cooler box. So, if it's 68 F in the box (20 C), the motor will become HOT to the tune of 20 C ambient PLUS 40 C rise above that, or 60 C, which is 140 deg F. Pretty hot! But this is all in the nature of AC motors: they have no permanent magnets, so they must have TWO coils powered by our line-current, the Stator coil AND the Rotor coil, both of which dissipate power and generate HEAT, and cost us on our electricity bills. But AC motors are so convenient!, just plug 'em in. Although... they are LARGE in size in comparison with a DC motor of roughly equivalent torque and power. After 35+ years in the desert using evap-coolers only in the house (have no AC), I just switched to DC scooter (Golf-cart) motors in the coolers, with two solar panels and a big LiFePo4 battery. Fun conversion project! Lots of experimenting in the backyard first to optimize for pulley diameter, RPM, noise, and current-draw (Amps, which of course converts to Watts). Happy with it! In the cool months, I'll have good solar backup power available for other things in the house, including my ham radio station, or in case of any power-company outages. So, again, that "AMB" spec is just the rise above ambient Temp that the motor will undergo when it runs. Most or all of the evap-cooler motors I've seen have that same 40 C AMB spec, it seems it's inescapable unless you go DC. Tnx again, & I wish you comfortable Summers. --Joe / W7DXW / Tucson ARIZONA
I've replaced old motors myself but after we installed our new handy-dandy Home Depot unit we found it don't push the same volume of air as our old one. I was told not to replace the pulley with a new one but we can barely feel the air from 20 feet away and certainly don't cool the house like the former one...what do you suggest for a solution? Signed, Getting Roasted in Colorado!
Looks like a black mold problem, mold is a serious problem(health effects). The Aspen pads are just raw wood, prone to molding, I use home made colloidal silver (80ppm) to keep it out. The green pads inhibit mold, but are hard to find. Essick sells them (ouch). Wipe some colloidal silver solution on the inside of the cooler if you have growth on surfaces. Mold is nothing to play with, it causes immune it problems, asthma, bronchitis,etc.
How do you know which size motor to buy if your unit does not have one ,1/3 ,1/2 ,3/4?? I have a full size side draft ,looks about the same size as yours,thank you
Why don't people clean their units? I have two and they both almost look new but they are about 11 years old each. Unreal to me. And I'm a woman. Been using swamp coolers since I was 30! I'm 67 now.
I did not know that's what I needed thank you 🙏 but I just switched the red and black so now it only runs high but on the low setting lol but that's how it's going to have to be haha... thank you have a good one
