Jet Air Cleaner Motor - Just a hum......

[Nate Secrist]

Hi,

The last few days when I turn on my Jet Air Cleaner, instead of turning on, I just hear a very low hum, like the motor is getting power, but nothing is spinning.

If I remember right, It seems like this air cleaner has some kind of breaker where, if the filter gets clogged and no air can get in, it stops so the motor doesn't burn up......

I have cleaned all the filters with compressed air, but I still hear this motor hum....Could the motor be shot?

This air cleaner is about 5 years old and has served me well, but am hoping I don't have to replace the motor......

Any ideas?

Thanks

Nate

[Mike Golka]

Sounds like the motor is shot. If the motor has a start capacitor it could be that only the capacitor is gone.

[Eric Gustafson]

Does the Jet air cleaner use a v-belt to drive the blower? If so, perhaps the pulley has come loose.

[Kyle Kraft]

I agree with Mike, if the motor has a capacitor, I'd check there first.

[Bill Wyko]

What ever you do, don't put your hand in front of the intake to see if it's sucking. A good friend of mine lost 3 fingers that way. Is it possible the impeller has loosened up?

[Gary Muto]

I don't know what model you have, but I read somewhere on this site of a similar problem. IIRC it pertained to the Jet AFS 1000B. Oddly the solution was to blow off the circuit board. What I do recall is that this was the recommendation from the manufacturer.

[Steve LaFara]

The circuit boards are prone to failure. They are available for about $35 from Jet but you need to find out if it's bad first. Mine was! If you take the front panel out that has the push button switches in it, you will see that the circuit board is wired with plug tyoe connectors. You can bypass the switch to see if the motor will run with current running straight to it this way. If it does, the circuit board is shot. If it does not, you likely have a bad motor or ??? I ended up not replacing the board and hooked up a wireless remote with the motor set to run on medium speed. I'll get around to ordering a new one some day.

[Chris Zenda]

Sounds like your centrifugal switch is stuck in th run winding instead of start. try blowing it out with compressed air.

[Charlie Barnes]

I was the one that received the advice to remove the PC board from my AFS 1000B and blow off the dust (of which there was none visible). I reinstalled the board and it worked fine...for about a day. Then the same thing happened again; motor won't come up to speed, humming, etc. The fact that it worked OK for a while after reinstalling the board indicates to me that the motor and capacitor are OK and the issue is the board. The part number is 330043 if you have the same model. Unfortunately the cost is $59.52 plus $19.95 shipping. Also, be advised that the part is back ordered through the end of the month. Apparently we have lots of company.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I think your air cleaner has a PSC motor. PSC means permanent split capacitor. The cap. is always in the circuit. This increases staring torque, and lowers electrical demand. These are stock items at HVAC supply houses. It will be a little silver can with two terminals with attached wires on it. There will be a value printed on the can. Usually __ uf, ___volts. You fill in the blanks.

[Andrew Nemeth]

I know Jet charges a ridiculous price for shipping on small parts. I have held off on buying a new crank for my drill press table for a couple of years because I refused to pay the price. However, my local Jet dealer who also has a service center will order parts without the shipping charge. I finally remembered to order the part when I was in the shop last week. If you don't live near one you may try calling a service center and see if they would ship it out to you at a more reasonable cost.

-Andrew

If you live near Columbus, Ohio check out WoodWerks Supply they are a great bunch of folks with a very impressive store and a great service department. You can find there address and contact information at www.woodwerks.com. (I'm not affiliated with them other than being a very satisfied customer who has become friends with the shop from many years of visits)