Electric motor (5HP) on gas log splitter?

[NCMau]

I replaced my log splitter 8HP gas engine with a 5HP electric motor many years ago. It has been one of my better moves. Now I don't have to cuss anymore every time I start the splitter few times a year.... not to mention the much lower noise level.
Generally the efficiency of an 1HP electric motor equals to 2.5HP gas engine.

 

[blueone]

Just a tip you'll want to get a magnetic starter with the proper overload protection so you don't kill your motor if you do overload it. Also I wouldn't want to just plug it in to start, get a starter with a start-stop station on it as here https://www.teksupply.com/farm/supp...plies-ts1_motor_starters_relays;pg101906.html

As above 1HP Elec = approx 2.5HP Gas as I have converted 2 portable gas air compressors to electric with 1/2 the gas HP and work great.

And go with a name brand motor I vote Baldor cause their USA made. Pay little more now or a lot later.

 

[LD1]

Tractor supply has two 3450 RPM compressor motors. The brand name is "REGAL-BELOIT". I've never heard of this brand, but the price isn't bad. $169 for the one, and $189 other. Both are spec'd at 5HP, but one is 15A, the other 21A (both at 230V). As I stated above in the info about the motor from Surplus Center, 5HP from 15A isn't possible, so what's the deal with the 5HP rating. The 5HP from a 21A motor is at least feasible. Anyone here have any experiences with these, or other Regal Beloit motors?
See links:

Regal-Beloit Electric Air Compressor Motor, 5 HP 15 amp - 3241192 | Tractor Supply Company
Regal-Beloit Electric Air Compressor Motor, 5 HP 21 amp - 3241281 | Tractor Supply Company

I'll throw in my thoughts here. The two motors that you posted are more of an air-compressor motor. Especally the 15A one. But they are both mre than likely a 1.0 SF and typically a capacitor start capacitor run motor. The way with electric motors is they are very hard to stall. They just pull more current than they are supposed to. You could put a 10HP on there and it wouldn't pull any more amps than the 5HP. It only needs enough to do the work at hand. And with electric motors, every time you over current them, the insulation on the windings start to degrade. I'ts kinda like what they say about hearing loss, it is irreversable but a little here and a little there adds up until failure.

A motor more like this Regal-Beloit Electric Motor 5 HP - 3242017 | Tractor Supply Company is what you would want. They have a SF of usually 1.15 or higher and a starting FLA of usually 23A or better. (Im unsure of the specs of this particular motor). That would let you run 26A all the time and not burn up.

Two more things about the cheaper "5hp" motors is that they are not TEFC, which is what you want given the environment you will be putting them in. Second is that they are usually not rated for continuous duty.

On a side note, our logsplitter only has a 11gpm 2-stage pump. We had a 5HP off an old compressor. It is a 15A motor. We thought we would try it just to see. Put a peice of wood in sideways to build the pressure, and it drew 20.5-21A until it sheared the peice. We have split several things that have had to make the pump work harder than that (big wet elm). So even a 21A motor would burn up eventually, and you have a 16GPM to boot.

I will also add that it is not as quiet as you would think it to be. Them pumps make a good bit of noise, and without the gas motor, you can hear it.

 

[jas67]

Regal-Beloit Electric Motor 5 HP - 3242017 | Tractor Supply Company is what you would want. They have a SF of usually 1.15 or higher and a starting FLA of usually 23A or better. (Im unsure of the specs of this particular motor). That would let you run 26A all the time and not burn up.

Yikes! That is a LOT more $$$ (yes, I do know that you get what you pay for, but geeze).

Two more things about the cheaper "5hp" motors is that they are not TEFC, which is what you want given the environment you will be putting them in. Second is that they are usually not rated for continuous duty.

I would not call a log splitter continuous. At least not with me running it by myself. I would say the duty cycle of the motor has got to be well under 50%, as most of the time, it is just pumping fluid against no pressure.

I will also add that it is not as quiet as you would think it to be. Them pumps make a good bit of noise, and without the gas motor, you can hear it.

The noise is of much less concern to me than the exhaust. I end up putting a big fan near the thing to blow the exhaust away if I'm running it on a windless day. I'd like to be able to set it up and run it in my barn when it is raining/snowing out -- not real safe with a gas engine (CO poisoning).

 

[LD1]

Another thing to note about "you get what you pay for" is on other sites I found motors with more specs and the "compressor duty" motors of 5HP are around 35lbs and the "continuous duty" farm motors are around 110 lbs

https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=3508020318304507&item=10-2390&catname=electric

vs

https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=3508020318304507&item=10-1093&catname=electric

But IMO, the second motor I listed is what you should be looking for. More Amps, higher service factor, and most importantally...totally enclosed fan cooled (TEFC). Given the environment (dirty/dusty) I doubt a open motor would last long, even if the amps were rated high enough. The compressor duty will work, but for how long???? For $325 I'd bet the motor I listed will outlast the pump, cylinder, splitter, any gas motor, and probabally yourself, as long as you dont live another 200 yrs

 

[6sunset6]

I converted gas to electric . 1.5 hp 220v 3600 rpm c face mount ,
11 gpm barnes pump.
Works great . 3.5" diam cylinder.
Only problem I had mud wasps building inside the TEFC housing.

 

[GE222]

I agree with the other posts. Stay away from those supposed 5hp open frame air compressor motors.

Get a good quality 5hp TEFC, (totally enclosed fan cooled) motor. They wont be cheap. Also get a good motor starter, and make sure it has overloads sized for your motor current rating. Then you can mount the Start/Stop buttons close to where you stand.

 

[Cami]

Regarding motor enclosures: If things aren't too dusty in your garage/shop and it's going to stay inside all the time then a drip proof enclosure might be good enough.

You'd be surprised what you can get away with. I used to clean a couple big diesel-electric Letourneau log loaders. Everything on them was electric; no hydraulics. Anywhere you expected to find a cylinder, there would be an electric motor driving a rack and pinion geartrain.

Anyway....There's a point in here...those motors had no outer enclosure around the windings. They were wide open with only a sheet metal shield above them to keep the rain off and they ran just fine on an oceanfront property with a fair bit of rain...it would also get dusty in the summer. As far as I know, the only time those motors had problems were when the kid cleaning them didn't watch where he pointed his hose.

 

[ModMech]

I converted my smowblower over 10 years ago as I discussed earlier, all I did was provide a snow shield to keep the motor dry. Snow blowing in MN is a LOT higher duty cycle than splitting a log. The motor may run 2-3 minutes at full draw until you get to the end of the driveway in 24" of packed snow.

I have seen air compressors run for hours during roofing and framing projects without motor failures, so I am confident that if you stay on the high side of 1 HP Electric to 2 HP gasoline there will be no real problem with an electric substitution.

As others have correctly mentioned, you will be able to hear just how loud all those other parts are with an electric motor, but the overall noise level is WAY lower.

 

[jas67]

Just an update for you all. I picked up a used 5HP, single phase, 230VAC/22A 1750 RPM motor today for $125. The case only has vents on the bottom, so it is probably a farm-duty motor that can handle being rained on (althought I won't let that happen). These beast has like a 1 1/8" shaft on it.

I will need to use pulleys (sheeves) to step the speed up for my pump. I'm still going to try to do some kind of quick-mount to swap out the 8HP gasser with this motor, using a spider coupling. I will need to use an jackshaft with the driven pulley and 1/2 of the spider coupling to mate with the half on the pump.

Another option is to use a 2nd pump on the electric motor tee the suction line and install some kind of large quick coupling, and put quick couplings on the pressure side so that I can move the pressure linebetwen pump. In this scenario, the electric motor and pump would be a separate assy. on wheels that I would wheel up to the splitter and connect in place of the gas-driven pump.

Any ideas here on being able to quickly change power source? I still want to be able to run it from the gas motor in the woods too. I do about 65% of my splitting at home in front of my shop (would be nice to do INSIDE the shop when it is raining), and about 35% in the woods.

Thanks again everyone,
Jay