The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Heater motor question

Hey, fifthave, I tore my heater assembly out over the weekend. I'm getting the core pressured checked and cleaned up, and I'm gonna sand and repaint the housing.

Got a question about the blower motor. I've converted to 12 volts. Will the six volt motor work OK in that setup? Do I need to add a Runtz voltage reducer? Or should I just spring for a 12 volt motor?

You'll have to add a resistor if you use six volt motor. If you convert to 12 volt make sure motor you buy runs in same direction as motor you replace. Should have approxiamatly same rpm.

Thanks Whitelightening. Is there any advantage to the 12 volt over the 6 volt? Also, I think this 6 volt motor has been run a few times with the 12 volt battery. If I hook the motor to the battery to test it, will it smoke it? Or will it run for a while before it craps out?

You can run that motor on 12 volts, but you will get tired of listening to the noise. For about $25, you can put in a Dayton motor from Grainger, should outlast any other motor. Here's a thread 12 volt heater motor

You could test it on 12 volt, but you don't want to leave it hooked up more than maybe 30 sec. tops. It will run faster on 12 volt, but will burn out in short time. The only advantage changing your motor to 12 volt (as opposed to adding resistor to six volt motor) would be less current draw.

In case you decide to replace with a 12V motor, here's one cheap - http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/productdetail.jsp?xi=xi&ItemId=1611762115

Yep...the boys are right, your best bet is to spring for the 12 volt motor. The amp load is approx half which means things will be more efficient. Your 6 volt motor required 8-10 amps on the high setting. Your new 12 volt one will need only 4-6 amps. Then when your wife complains that you never save any money, you can say you are using less electricity while driving your truck than you did before !! And that is saving money right???? Randy

Randy, I think you're on to something here. All of the hours that I drive my truck during the day, the lights are off. So, I'm saving electricity and thus saving money, right?

Randy, I'm writing that one down so I can remember it when I need to use it.

Jimfred, I bought this motor and mounted it in the heater housing, and then I discovered that the shaft was narrower, so my squirrel cage doesn't fit on the shaft. Any suggestions where I could get a squirrel cage that fits?

You would be better off making a bushing than trying to find a new fan. What is the O.D. of the motor shaft? I could make you one if its a hassle to have done local. Ray

It looks like the O.D. of the motor shaft is 3/16, and the I.D of the squirrel cage is 5/16. The problem is, the set screw won't even go in far enough to seat against the motor shaft, so the bushing would almost have to be a press fit on the motor shaft so the set screw could seat on the bushing.

I'm going to see if I can find a squirrel cage that will fit the shaft, because I think that's a better solution. Even if you bushed it, unless it was truly a press fit, there's a chance it might come off or at least rotate on the shaft. Only way I can see around that is you use a set screw on the bushing to hold it to the shaft, and then the set screw in the cage to hold it against the bushing.

You can also drill a hole in the bushing so a longer set screw will engage the slot on the shaft.

I replaced the blower motor in my 60 with one out of a something Dodge. The shaft wouldn't fit the cage, so I went to my local hardware store and they had cages with different shaft and OD's. I found one that fit great. It also works great.
Dennis

I finished restoring the heater from my '53 1/2 ton (recirculating type) today. I used the Grainger motor as ya'll suggested and it fit perfectly. My heater came with a fan blade instead of a squirrel cage, so the shaft dia was exact. Now, the on/off 2 speed heater switch that came with my truck started to smoke whilst I was testing it using a battery charger for power. Everthing worked, just got hot as hell. Is there an acceptable(clever) way of installing a 12 volt switch that will retain the same appearance?