Wire a furnace blower to use as workshop exhaust fan?

[smcjensen]

I have a furnace blower and I'd like to convert it to a workshop exhaust fan. Not entirely sure how to wire it. Motor says its

120/240V. Can I just wire it directly up to household current?

[RBM]

Yes, either 120 volt or 240 volt, but you need to see which voltage it's set up to run on and either use that voltage or change the wiring on the motor

[S. Barker]

yep, put a cord on it and plug it in. i used one for years to blow under cars whilst i was working on them in the summer.

s

[gfretwell]

If you can figure out which leads are the 120v pair it should work fine. Black and white are logical but that may be too easy. Is there a wiring diagram on the motor plate or inside the end bell? Otherwise try googling every number and name you see.

[Phisherman]

Yes, might consider a wall-timer switch or plain switch.

[udarrell]

Many furnace blowers are engineered to work within specific static pressures. When they are operated outside the ductwork, some blowers will overload unless you rig-up some static resistance. Use an amprobe to see if it is drawing too many amps; some blowers will bog down, it all depends on how they were engineered to operate.

- udarrell

[DanG]

As udarrel says, make sure you don't exceed the rated amps for the motor. I have a few of these furnace blower "fans". You need a bit of framework to hang on to the squirrel cage anyway, I use a piece of peg board across the non-motor side of the housing. This is usually enough to get the amps down to a decent level.