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Beckett Motor Trips on Overload after 5 minutes of running

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Pilgrimsox
Pilgrimsox Member Posts: 2
in Oil Heating
My Beckett motor on my oil fired boiler trips out on the motor overload after 5 minutes of running. I have inspected the flame, full tank of oil, cleaned the boiler, and am wondering if I should just go ahead and replace the motor ?



Thank you !

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  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
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    Service:

    The burner may just need to be serviced. It may be that the vacuum is high and putting an excessive load on the motor, causing it to trip out on thermal overload. It might be full of animal dander or lint restricting the cooling air. A Professional might put an Amp Clamp on the wires to check the amp draw.

    Chances are, the motor is shot. If it's something else, you just wasted a motor. Some of us who aren't "Trial & Error" mechanics, like to be sure before we replace things. We don't like making excuses when we change unnecessary parts.
  • Pilgrimsox
    Pilgrimsox Member Posts: 2
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    Thank you.

    Thank you. I will look into taking amp readings and vacuum. I agree, I don't want to replace the motor if not necessary.
  • captainco
    captainco Member Posts: 793
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    Oil pumps can tighten up and put extra load on the motor. Running the motor disconnected from the pump might give some additional clues.
  • CapeCodOilGuy
    CapeCodOilGuy Member Posts: 43
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    If you know how, you can (after turning off the master switch) flip up the ignitor to access the blower wheel and try to turn it by hand; it should move very easily. If it is at all hard to turn, either the pump bearings are bad or the motor bearings are bad. Removing the motor/blower assembly will further isolate the problem; if the motor and fan turn easily, the pump is the culprit.
  • CapeCodOilGuy
    CapeCodOilGuy Member Posts: 43
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    Is the motor one of the older split-phase, sleeve-bearing types, or does it have a capacitor (the tubular or dome-shaped housing on the side of the motor)? The earlier sleeve-bearing motors sometimes had oiling ports at each end, later ones did not ("lubricated for life-" whose life?). Count on the sleeve bearings to fail eventually. The capacitor-run motors which came in later (and are being used now) have grease-packed ball bearings which last a lot longer (and start giving a telltale whine before they give out); however, the capacitors sometimes fail. This can cause a variety of symptoms, one of which is excessive current draw and overheating, which will trip the overload. If your multimeter can check capacitors, you can investigate this angle; Carlin sells capacitors which will work for any of these new motors and cost only a few dollars.
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
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    "" ("lubricated for life-" whose life?). ""

    I once installed a galvanized water tank that was advertised as having a "Lifetime Warranty". Upon closer inspection of the sticker after the above, it was refined to say "Lifetime Warranty Until Installed".

    So much for that.
  • Robert O'Brien
    Robert O'Brien Member Posts: 3,541
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    The vacuum reading has nothing to do with the load on the motor although a plugged return line can bind a Cleancut without blowing seal
    To learn more about this professional, click here to visit their ad in Find A Contractor.
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
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    Well, I've experienced no-heat calls, fired up the burner, and all seemed well. Once the vacuum whine started, some motors slowed down noticeably because they were old, tired, and needed to go out to the scrap yard pasture.

    With ALL of those Garber Flow Restriction Gauges, unless you mark the needle at zero, when you first take it out of the box (or do it later) you never know where zero is.

    Then, there's something said long ago.

    If you keep having nuisance lock out calls, and can't find the cause, change the motor. It runs long enough to quit before the thermal overload gets hot and shuts it off and the primary control shuts it down. On recycle controls (CCT *86000), it recycles until it happens 3 times in the proper time, and gives you a Red & Amber hard lock out. Or the thermal switch trips on the motor.

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