Furnace Blower Wiring Part 2

[smcjensen]

I have a furnace blower I want to use as a shop exhaust fan. It's a GE ECM motor meaning it has electronic controls mounted on the motor, however, you can remove the control module and behind it are three wires going to the motor, black, blue, red. There are no other wires coming from the motor. There's also a capacitor mounted to the housing. The motor says it's 120/240 volt 1 HP. I have 120 juice close to the motor and I have a 220 outlet for band and table saw not so conveniently located but presumably I could tap into that if necessary.

So, which colors on the motor connect to which colors in the home wiring?

Which color wire would go to the capacitor?

If I have to tap in behind the higher voltage outlet what's the best way to work in an on/off switch other than using the breaker as my switch?

[RBM]

If the blower was used on a furnace, it's probably already connected for 120 volt. I would assume that the capacitor is already wired to the motor. In any event there should be a diagram on the motor or in the cabinet, showing it's wiring.

[Joe]

A 1 HP exhaust fan sounds a bit hairy for the typical shop. Are there some unusual reasons you need such a beast? Just curious.

Joe

[Eric9822]

If you haven't already you may try a google search for the particular ECM motor you have. The ones I know of are actually brushless DC motors and the "control module" is what converts the AC to DC. You can't remove the controller and hook the motor directly to AC. Try posting all nameplate data on the motor.

[Don Young]

You can't use that motor without its electronic controller and it may be rather complicated to figure out how to use it even with the controller. Incidentially, my son recently paid about $400 for one of those controllers and the whole motor would have been close to $800. So you may want to find a sale to someone who can use it for its intended purpose.

Don Young

[Worn out Retread]

I used a furnace blower as an exhaust fan for my shop in the basement. It was an older unit so the wiring was very simple. There is one thing to keep in mind though. Whatever volume of air you exhaust must be replaced from somewhere. If this is in your house, make sure that you have some source of replacement air or there could be unexpected consequences from say gas furnaces and fireplaces.