I installed a new to me 3 hp Oneida Super Dust Gorilla on the outside wall of my shop back in November. Since then I have had to pull the motor twice due to what turned out to be an intermittent short in the start capacitor. Extraction is an ordeal complicated by tight quarters and cold weather. I was more than a little chagrined when the unit again failed to start yesterday morning. I pulled the end cap off and found that the rotor would not turn, plus one of the bolts that holds the motor together was loose and sticking up. Fearing that the loose bolt might have caused the difficulty and leery of forcing things I decided to pull it out yet again in 5 degree weather.

When I got it up far enough I found that ice had formed between the bolt heads that anchor the motor to its support flange and the top of the impeller, apparently from condensation when shop air hits the inside of the impeller housing. I wound up moving the impeller about 3/16" farther out on the motor shaft in hopes that any future icicles will be more fragile and bust loose under starting torque. I figure if it does fail to start again I can pull the cap and break it loose with a pipe wrench on the shaft end above the cooling fan. While I had it out I put thread-locker on the motor bolts- it did not appear that the motor shop had done so.

I'm curious if anyone else with an exterior mounted cyclone has run into this.new DC.jpg