JDgreen227
Super Member
A few days ago, I spilled a large quantity of clean water (pail handle broke) down the top of a ten year old, Craftsman shop vacuum. It wasn't running at the time, I immediately took it outside and inverted the vacuum, and within the next half hour, took it all apart (except for the motor assembly) blew as much water as possible out of the innards, and let it sit in the sun the entire day to dry out. Well, I reassembled the vac, turned it on, and it ran fine for a few minutes, then began smoking out the top vent where the motor exhausts hot air. I shut it off immediately,
I took it apart again, and found the motor was so hot it was binding for some reason. There was nothing interfering with the rotation (like a loose screw), the brushes, bearings, and bushings are not damaged or corroded. It was rotating in the proper direction before it began heating up, and the cord supply for power is ample sized (16 gage) and undamaged. The copper wire windings on the armature look scorched, but the only part of the motor that the water could have affected is the paper wrappings of the field windings of the motor, and since they were dry when I reassembled the vacuum, why does it run hot and bind up? Thanks for any input you can provide me.
I took it apart again, and found the motor was so hot it was binding for some reason. There was nothing interfering with the rotation (like a loose screw), the brushes, bearings, and bushings are not damaged or corroded. It was rotating in the proper direction before it began heating up, and the cord supply for power is ample sized (16 gage) and undamaged. The copper wire windings on the armature look scorched, but the only part of the motor that the water could have affected is the paper wrappings of the field windings of the motor, and since they were dry when I reassembled the vacuum, why does it run hot and bind up? Thanks for any input you can provide me.