Water cooler fan switch

[FlatBroke]

A friend gave me a nice portable swamp cooler but the high/low fand switch is stuck on high. It takes on-off-on rocker switch. Can't find one in town but I have two on- off rocker switches. I wired them one on high and one on low. Works good for low and high. Maybe low is a little low. I found if you switch them both on at the same time I get a medium which is pretty nice. However I'm not sure I'm suppose to do this and don't want to smoke a motor. Have pic of wiring diagram.Electric guru's what's your take on this?

[FlatBroke]

Well I'll be darned got the old switch and Googled the numbers instead of try to find dealers. First up got a hit, Diga-Key electronics. Exact same on off on with 6 spades connectors. $4 and $6 shipping! Cooler company want over $30 shipped. On the way with 2-3 day delivery!

[FlatBroke]

Yep will be on the look out for a switch but she's a working now. How come not one has fixed my giant picture yet? LOL 🙂

[wa8yxm]

Most electronic stores will have a 20 amp on/off/on switch,, that should do the job.. With luck you can even match the original switch size.

Radio shack may well have a 10 amp.. Since the fan motor is likely a faraction of that (10 amps would be roughly 1 HP of motor) you might get by with a Radio Shack switch
(I would never try to put a 10 amp load on one of their switches)

Some "industrial supply" Like Granger may be able to make you happy as well.

Take old switch with you. LABEL WIRES 1-2-3 before you remove them from switch *Assuming 3 wires on switch*.. also if you want low full time,, Swap 1 and 3 that way you can tell if it's a switch issue or a motor issue.

[FlatBroke]

Thanks, I gave up that idea. Sure don't need to burn up the motor.

[Old-Biscuit]

Most 2 speed motors are '2 speed/1 winding' design...cheap to produce and easy to configure

Low speed and High speed tap into motor windings at different locations


Your drawing...
Hot comes into middle terminal of On/OFF/ON.
Top ON..power goes out Black for High
Bottom ON....power goes out RED for Low

Your 2 ON/OFF switches......
1 switch....Hot in/power out to Black (High)
1 switch....Hot in/power out to RED (Low)

ONLY one switch ON at a time........otherwise you are supply power to windings at same time/different locations and although motor may be at a 'middle speed' it was NOT designed to function in that mode.

[filthy_beast]

I used a simple three way wall switch when I first installed my swamp cooler at my home. no way to energize both windings.

[FlatBroke]

BTPO1 wrote:
I would not use them both at the same time for a medium setting as the original switch is either high or low. By what I see in the diagram it is either high or low. JMO

Yeah, I don't really understand how motors are made to run low or high. I got three speed fans and I have seen them run with a rheostat. That why I'm asking.

[BTPO1]

I would not use them both at the same time for a medium setting as the original switch is either high or low. By what I see in the diagram it is either high or low. JMO

[FlatBroke]

newman fulltimer wrote:
any auto parts store will have that switch

Not here. Town of 100,000. It is almost as wide as two normal single switches. Found one on-off switch that was wider than standard but it was too big. Don't want to hog out the hole, unit is too nice. Can order from manufacture but they only come as a pair of pump and fan switch. About $30 for the pair. Mine were free, just my price range. 🙂 I will continue to look for the proper switch but using my cooler now. I like the medium setting also.

[newman_fulltime]

any auto parts store will have that switch