Hello -- I have a Patton air circulator: Model 1010MP Style SH-74SP-R 120V 60 Hz 350W 3.8 Amps. This is a pedestal fan with about about a 30" blade diameter. It was probably manufactured in the 1970's, but still runs fine. The problem is to get it to run.

About 10 years ago, the motor began to hum when I'd turn it on and it would take a long time for the fan to get up to speed. I took the capacitor off and the only local replacement I could find was one with four terminals. There are only two wires coming out of the fan motor.

I have tried all combinations of attaching the 2 wires to any 2 of the 4 terminals on the capacitor. In all cases, this is what happens:

The fan blades start to turn slowly, but do not get up to speed. If I disconnect any one fan wire from the capacitor, the fan immediately gets up to speed and runs fine.

I cannot find the original capacitor and the Patton Co. says they no longer make that fan and have no info on it.

What would be a good guess for an appropriate capacitor?

Thanks in advance,
Wendell

No such thing.

If you take apart the motor, the tag may tell you the appropriate capacitor value, which can then be ordered from Grainger. Try this. If not I have a few other ideas.

Thanks -- I'll open the motor tonight.

Grainger typically won't allow consumers to buy from them. Wholesale only.

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Originally Posted by ceilingfanrepair

No such thing.

If you take apart the motor, the tag may tell you the appropriate capacitor value, which can then be ordered from Grainger. Try this. If not I have a few other ideas.

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I took the motor housing apart and do not see a tag or writing on the inside. I checked the capacitor that does not work well and it is:

BALDOR
G22-658
400-480 MFD
110-125 VAC 50-60 HZ

Thanks again!

I can't find the capacitor on baldor's site, so I'm going to ask for some information. How are the terminals marked. With 4 terminals, I'm suspecting two independent capacitors. We can put them in parallell and/or series to increase (add) or decrease to 218 uf. 818 uf doesn't make any sense.

Not sure what not working well means. Low speed? Low torque? Describe what you can. Since the values are nearly the same, two connects will result in extremely poor performance and two will result in about the same performance.

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Originally Posted by KeepItSimpleStupid

I can't find the capacitor on baldor's site, so I'm going to ask for some information. How are the terminals marked. With 4 terminals, I'm suspecting two independent capacitors. We can put them in parallell and/or series to increase (add) or decrease to 218 uf. 818 uf doesn't make any sense.

Not sure what not working well means. Low speed? Low torque? Describe what you can. Since the values are nearly the same, two connects will result in extremely poor performance and two will result in about the same performance.

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By "not working well" I mean that the fan blades will move slowly with the motor's leads attached to the capacitor. The blades only get up to speed when I disconnect a lead from the capacitor. Of course, if I were to start the fan with one lead disconnected from the capacitor, the motor would just hum and the blades would not move.

This is difficult to explain! Is that a little more clear?

Yep, makes perfect sense. The cap is way to big. My guess is somewhere between 50 and 100 uf. I know that's a wide range. Unfortunately the caps are expensive. I'll err toward the lower value.

I found 60 uf and 85 uf here: Allied Electronics - Catalog

The reason there are 4 terminals is because two of them are the same. The 400-480 is a tolerance specified in a different way. It's like 440 uf +-10% or thereabouts.

Capacitors is parallel add: Ct = C1+C2+... Cn
Capacitors in series follow this formula 1/Ct = 1/C1 + 1/C2 +... 1/Cn which means two 100 uf in series is equlivalent to one 50 uf cap. 1 uf = 1e-6 farads.

See if you can find them surplus somewhere.

Here is a source of cheap caps:

Use run caps.

Pick some that can give you a range between 50 and 100 uf in series/parallel or both.
Parallel will give a better start kick.

Surplus Center

400-480 MFD is the capacitor value. That sounds extremely high but it may be correct. Remember capacitors in parallel add value, and too low a capacitor value = slow motor. Too high = fried motor.

Contacting Baldor is a good idea to confirm the 400-480 is correct. It sounds like this is a start capacitor and not a start/run so it may be correct, and also why there is such a high tolerance.

Grainger will sell over the counter if you pay cash.

CFR:
The circulator MFR is Patton and Patton supposedly doesn't exist.

I get 400-480 uf if this was a split phase capacitor motor, but I get somewhere between 50 and 100 uf if this was a PERMANENT split phase capacitor motor when I attempt some calculations. A fan is more likely to be a PSC motor.

I misread the message, I thought the information was off the motor, not the capacitor.

Contact Marley Engineered Products they bought out Patton.