60 amp breaker on a F/F bin fan

What gauge wiring was used and has ANYONE checked the voltage going to the Motor? If one leg is Low Volting(Transformer) then the Motor draws far more amps to make HP. And should be 240v unless three phase.

Does the motor make a whining noise or run quiet? Whining would indicate a bearing. Or if the shaft is loose would point to a bearing. From what I understand, 220v single phase is 2 legs of 110v. On our chicken house fans there's a black wire with 110v all the time and when the timer or thermostat calls for the fan to run, it applies 110v to the white wire which makes 220v.

Edited by thendrix - 26 Jun 2019 at 7:39pm

If you feel comfortable doing so check for loose connections where the wire goes into the breaker.Turn it off and tighten the screws. Another common problem is where the breaker plugs onto the buss of the box. Again if you are comfortable doing so you can pull the breaker out of the box and look for signs of arcing on the contact points or on the buss bar. Sometimes the plastic near the contact points will be discolored. It is a very common problem for those contacts to lose spring tension and heat up.
Turn off the main power to the box if you don't want to pull out the breaker while the box is energized.
Sometimes you will hear it arc behind the breaker when you turn it on and pick up load. Other things that may help you is to listen closely for arcing at the breaker when the load is on.You can touch the plastic of the breaker and lightly wiggle it and listen for arcing behind it. (if you don't feel good about pulling it out and looking at the xonnections.) That don't always find a loose contact issue though. Best way is to remove it and look at it.
Looking for discoloration on the wires insulation and cracking or melted insulation will point out heat issues usually caused by a loose connection.
You can take a volt meter and check for 240V on the screws and on bare wire just outside of the breaker screws.
Most newer meters only require you to be on the AC volts setting. Looks like a V with a sine wave. V~
Some meters require you to be on a setting higher than the volts you are checking such as 200V when checking for 120V or 750V scale for testing 240V.
Test the voltage with load on and without.
If you don't find any connection issues you can clip the wires with an amp meter to see how much load you are pulling.

Starting current will be close to four times that Steve, nearer to 120A but just instantaneous and then drops unless capacitor start. The wire should NOT be less than 6Ga or will cause a great deal of angst with load amps as well. Breaker cycled that many times will be weak and junk now, time for it to go away. Should be 120v each leg of Two legs of power for 240v, that is normal and can be slightly higher typically seen with a voltmeter where that will actually drive amps a little lower.

IF aluminum wire HAS to be 4ga for 60a circuit.

Edited by DMiller - 27 Jun 2019 at 6:47am

thendrix wrote: FREEDGUY wrote: Kind of hard to hear a motor driving a 28" axial fan, on a calm,clear autumn night, you can hear the fan a mile and a half away LOL!! The shaft doesn't wiggle with manual torque with my hands though. Thanks thendrix  Is it direct drive or belt drive? If belt drive, take the belt off and you can hear it. If it's direct, get the fan at opposite ends and wiggle back and forth. A slight movement is ok but if you can see the shaft moving then you've got some bearing wear

 

Edited by FREEDGUY - 27 Jun 2019 at 4:53pm