wireing question


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Old 07-23-03, 09:13 AM
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wireing question

I have a White Westinghouse 8,000 btu ac and the switch craped out. I took it apart and was running the air and the fan from the wires with an alligator clip. Yesterday I decided to put all into a 4" box. I have 4 wires, gray is hot, orange is the fan and blue and yellow runs the ac on low. I am using 2 single pole switches. I spliced 2 wires to the hot, one to each switch, I put the fan wire on one switch and the 2 ac wires on the other, The fan won't come on wired like that. However when I took it off the switch and connected the wire together the fan runs. Both switches are good. Any thoughts on this? It's very wierd to me. I am thinking of putting in another switch in the middle and just connecting the hot so the ac side will not be energized when the fan is running. Thanks any help is appreciated.
 
  #2  
Old 07-23-03, 10:01 AM
texsparky
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Just my 2 pennies worth.............
IMO, you should order a new switch from westinghouse or an appliance repair center, in lieu of creating a shock/fire hazard.
 
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Old 07-24-03, 07:51 AM
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As a post back, no you didn't answer the question. I'm trying to find out why the fan will not run when hooked up to the switches.
I'm an electrican by trade so I have an idea of what I'm doing. A journeyman, local 3, NYC IBEW
 
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Old 07-24-03, 12:02 PM
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Connect the compressor motor so that it's in series with the Line wire and the control-thermostat. The compressor circuit is independent from the fan circuit and is switched On-Off by the thermostat.

Connect the Line wire to the Common terminal of a single-pole, double-throw toggle-switch which will "select" one of two leads to the fan motor for fan speed-control.

You can "control" the entire unit by plugging/un-plugging the Line-cord in/out of the receptacle.------Good Luck!!!!
 
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Old 07-24-03, 05:25 PM
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PATTBAA, thanks for your answer, I'm unclear as to what needs to be done (mid sixties since I did any control work, my apprenticeship)
Anyway here is what I have found
The Yellow is the compressor
Grey is hot (line)
orange runs the fan
Blue runs the fan for the compressor
The thermostat is working and on another switch.
What I would like to do is use a single pole switch to turn the unit on off

If you understand the wiring I've laid out try to explain, if you can, what wire to where. I think the thermostat is confusing me.
Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.
 
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Old 07-26-03, 09:03 AM
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From your info we'll guess the themostat makes Grey-to-Yellow and the compressor operates. The compressor motor is a single-speed motor.

With the compressor operating, the next step is to circulate the room-air across the evaporator coil which means operating the circulating fan which is rotated by a muti-speed motor. You could connect a SPDT toggle-switch to the Load side of the thermostat and the SPDT switch would "select" one of two speed-windings in the fan motor circuit.

I seldom manipulate the controls on my window AC unit. When I don't want the AC operating, I remove the Line-cord plug from the receptacle. If a component "wears-out" from the On/Off operation, it will be the receptacle, not the complex switch inside the unit.------------------ Good Luck!!!!
 
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Old 07-26-03, 10:12 AM
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Thanks again for your reply, I believe the thermostat is on a totally diffrent switch and that works fine. If I connect the wires to the ac I can control the thermostat. I think gray to yellow is hot to compressor and the blue runs the fan for the compressor.
There is another wire involved in this and I am guessing it's to run the compressor motor on high, It sits in the bedroom and I haven't needed it since I've had the ac. I use the thermostat to control the amount of cool air coming into the room.
So I am still unclear about the dpdt switch as I don't think the thermostat is in the equation.

As is now there are two wires to work the fan
There are three wires to run the ac
when I have hot on two diffrent switches (looped thru) the fan switch doesn't work.
Thanks again for the help
 
 

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