Low Fan Speed

[oskar470]

My new Regency I2450 has the same fan unit as my old I3100 however in the old unit having the fan set at low speed I was getting a good and quite air flow but on the new one the low speed it is kind of useless, almost no air comes out. The high speed is too noisy and too much air.

Is there a fix for it?

Thanks

 

[kborndale]

Amazon.com

 

[oskar470]

I have one of them in my workshop, never thought to use it on the fireplace. Will give it a try
Thanks

 

[bigealta]

Amazon.com

Nice i might get one for my box fan as it's noisy even on low at night. Always wanted a lower setting for it.

 

[oskar470]

Not knowledgable enough but the 2 air blowing fans have the speed control build into the motors. Having an external voltage control I have no idea what may do to the fan motors. On my side I decided not to use this gadget

 

[kborndale]

Not knowledgable enough but the 2 air blowing fans have the speed control build into the motors. Having an external voltage control I have no idea what may do to the fan motors. On my side I decided not to use this gadget

You are correct, in my haste to post the link I did not notice I linked to a controller that only had 3 speed settings as most of them are fully variable. Here is a much better link:

Amazon.com

 

[oskar470]

Please don't take me wrong, my point is that the inserts 2 air blowing fans must have the speed controller(s) built inside the motor and expect to see 110-120VAC.

Now I don't know what will happen if we feed a variable range of AC voltage to these controllers.

 

[kborndale]

Please don't take me wrong, my point is that the inserts 2 air blowing fans must have the speed controller(s) built inside the motor and expect to see 110-120VAC.

Now I don't know what will happen if we feed a variable range of AC voltage to these controllers.

It will blow slower, leave the blower on high and use the controller to slow it. If you already have one what do you have to loose by plugging it in?

 

[oskar470]

It's true that I can use the one I have (I use it on an old router to control the speed) but I don't want to take a chance and damage the motors on a 2 months old insert in the middle of the winter. Below is an answer on the same subject from an electronics forum:

"Probably not. All the speed control is happening inside the fan motor as the external speed switch only selects which terminal to power. Back in the day it was common to use series capacitors (of the motor 'run' capacitor type) to drop the speed of small fractional HP induction motors when very little startup torque was required (primarily fans and non positive displacement pumps). However nowadays its more likely to have electronic speed control with the speed set by some custom programmed, often unidentifiable IC, with no obvious way to tweak the speed(s). If the motor does have a capacitor between the black and red wires (almost invariably mounted externally on the motor frame, maybe in a plastic housing) you can investigate and try a higher value one, which also needs to be of the 'motor run' type (a regular film capacitor or non-polarised electrolytic typically wont stand up to the high RMS current in this application) and of the same or higher voltage rating." .