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  1. #1
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    Default Melted plastic cooling fan

    Hello, could anyone suggest as too what may of caused a plastic cooling fan to melt.
    The motor is 1.5kw, 240 volt vertical flange mount, the motor is 17 yrs old.
    The motor still runs, bearings are not noisy, motor shaft spins freely,
    thank you.

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by pipeclay View Post
    Hello, could anyone suggest as too what may of caused a plastic cooling fan to melt.
    The motor is 1.5kw, 240 volt vertical flange mount, the motor is 17 yrs old.
    The motor still runs, bearings are not noisy, motor shaft spins freely,
    thank you.

    Heat ?

  3. #3
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    Sorry but really could not help myself.

    A couple of ideas:
    Fan was loose on the shaft, the reduction in cooling was enough for the shaft to melt the plastic.
    Shorted windings in the coil increasing the current draw.
    Increased resistance in the supply to the motor.

  4. #4
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    Default

    Thank you, do you think there would be the potential for enough heat to build up on/in the motor end cover to cause this with no effect to the performance of the motor?

  5. #5
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    Would any of your mentioned causes have any effect on the performance of the motor.
    I noticed the melted fan today, it had run down the cooling fins on the motor, thought initially it was a cobweb.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by pipeclay View Post
    Would any of your mentioned causes have any effect on the performance of the motor.
    I noticed the melted fan today, it had run down the cooling fins on the motor, thought initially it was a cobweb.
    The first option would not effect performance until the windings broke down with heat.
    How much use does the motor get and how long could this problem have existed ?
    If the motor only runs for five minutes at a time and very infrequent then it would have to be something that would build a lot of heat quickly, but if the motor spends a lot of time running then simple reduced airflow over a long time could build heat gradually.

    If you have a local motor winder get them to megger it and see if they have a new fan.

  7. #7
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    Default

    It could be many things including electrical issues, overloaded or lack of air flow around the motor.

  8. #8
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Default

    Let's see some pics. Without this we're basically guessing.

  9. #9
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    The motor is not running constantly but could be run for around 50 mins per hour, with switching on/off every 3 or 4 mins for a minute or so for around 4 to 5 hours.
    If the bore of the fan failed and the fan was sitting on the end cap is it possible that this could of caused the melting.
    There was only 2 vanes of the fan noticeable, and these were only about 1/4 of their normal size, the rest of everything looked like icing running down the side of a cake.

  10. #10
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    Hope these work.
    This is all that was left, the motor shows how it ran down.

    Sent from my T85 using Tapatalk

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by pipeclay View Post
    The motor is not running constantly but could be run for around 50 mins per hour, with switching on/off every 3 or 4 mins for a minute or so for around 4 to 5 hours.
    If the bore of the fan failed and the fan was sitting on the end cap is it possible that this could of caused the melting.
    There was only 2 vanes of the fan noticeable, and these were only about 1/4 of their normal size, the rest of everything looked like icing running down the side of a cake.

    Sounds like a high duty cycle use, and mounted vertically with the fan sitting at the top of the big heat sink and heat generator.
    If there is no other damage and the motor has been running correctly I suspect the fan failed, then melted from heat generated.

  12. #12
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Quote Originally Posted by droog View Post
    . . . . . I suspect the fan failed, then melted from heat generated.
    That would be my guess. The plastics used on some motor fans do sometimes eventually become brittle and self destruct. Are there any chemicals/dusts near the motor?

  13. #13
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    No chemicals, but there is cast iron dust.
    Thank you for the replies, didn't realise that that amount of heat would be present.
    The motor is running as usual , I just removed to check the rotation and bearing noise.

  14. #14
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    If its got that hot to melt the fan I cant believe the motor still works. You say it is...but I reckon there must be damage to the windings.
    Also, assuming the fan failed and broke away from the motor shaft no noise was noticed????.

  15. #15
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    There was no noise that I noticed, only spotted the plastic when I was changing belt positions, belts had not been adjusted for a week so not sure when the fan melted and ran down the side of the motor.

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