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A/C Fan

UltimateAlloy25
By UltimateAlloy25
in Cooling
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So we've got this old A/C unit that's not being used for anything, and we had the completely ludicrous idea of putting it's fan inside a PC (with a custom case of course).

 

Any ideas or tips?

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You're talking about just using the fan, right?  No other components of the AC I hope.

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You're talking about just using the fan, right?  No other components of the AC I hope.

No other components, just the fan. 

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If it fits... Why not. You need probably do bit electrician work to get wires correct.

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If it fits... Why not. You need probably do bit electrician work to get wires correct.

I'm currently not in possession of the unit o i can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure the fan motor runs off wall power. 

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I'm currently not in possession of the unit o i can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure the fan motor runs off wall power.

Directly or as connected to some control board. I mean if you know how to frankenstein stuff together, why not.

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I'm currently not in possession of the unit o i can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure the fan motor runs off wall power. 

some are 120~some are 240~ either way you could get it wired up.  I haven't seen too many variable speed a/c motors except the squirrel cage type that usually go in the furnace, unless your talking about a window a/c type.  If its from a full size condensing unit (the one that sits outside) then that might be too much power

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So we've got this old A/C unit that's not being used for anything, and we had the completely ludicrous idea of putting it's fan inside a PC (with a custom case of course).

 

Any ideas or tips?

 

As someone with experience in HVAC, I would have to say it's possible, but keep in mind that the fans usually don't have speed control (Or if they do, it's powered by the controller of the air hander). You will need wall power to do this. If your fan is 220v, you might out of luck as that uses two 120V lines. Also keep in mind that the fan will suck in a lot of air (Be prepared to have it be filtered or else your system will collect dust like crazy. You'll also need some kind of switch to turn the thing off with your PC. Also look at the state of the motor capacitor (If it's looking rusted, I would recommend changing it, they cost at most $6-8. Definitely double check the wiring schematic on the motor. Keep in mind that the fan will pull a fair bit of power out of the outlet (It might cause the circuit breaker to kick if you plug anything else that sucks power on the same circuit). Do keep in mind that your average residential power circuit is 15 amps and several plugs are usually tied together on one circuit. 

 

I think your main challenge is to fit the blower assembly into a PC case...

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I think your main challenge is to fit the blower assembly into a PC case...

That part at least isn't really a problem.

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As someone with experience in HVAC, I would have to say it's possible, but keep in mind that the fans usually don't have speed control (Or if they do, it's powered by the controller of the air hander). You will need wall power to do this. If your fan is 220v, you might out of luck as that uses two 120V lines. Also keep in mind that the fan will suck in a lot of air (Be prepared to have it be filtered or else your system will collect dust like crazy. You'll also need some kind of switch to turn the thing off with your PC. Also look at the state of the motor capacitor (If it's looking rusted, I would recommend changing it, they cost at most $6-8. Definitely double check the wiring schematic on the motor. Keep in mind that the fan will pull a fair bit of power out of the outlet (It might cause the circuit breaker to kick if you plug anything else that sucks power on the same circuit). Do keep in mind that your average residential power circuit is 15 amps and several plugs are usually tied together on one circuit. 

 

I think your main challenge is to fit the blower assembly into a PC case...

Was wondering your opinion on what was mentioned above

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Was wondering your opinion on what was mentioned above

 

Well, that fan isn't what I thought it would be. I thought it would be the centrifugal style blowers on air handlers (much larger than that fan). That fan is actually easier to fit on the case.

 

As for my opinion, this is definitely something you would do because you can....It will run fairly cold, that's for sure. haha.

 

Look at the amp use of the fan motor, and as long as it's not too high (I think anything below 10 amps you should be safe...shouldn't be that high anyway), you should be fine. Mount the fan with a study mount to the side of the case, and then look at the wiring schematic. I'm pretty sure your fan is multispeed, the schematic will tell you which pair of wires to use (Pretty sure black and white is full speed though). Then go to the hardware store and get a plug end for the wire. I would heavily recommend a safety grill or something to prevent anything being sucked into the fan.

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Well, that fan isn't what I thought it would be. I thought it would be the centrifugal style blowers on air handlers (much larger than that fan). That fan is actually easier to fit on the case.

 

As for my opinion, this is definitely something you would do because you can....It will run fairly cold, that's for sure. haha.

 

Look at the amp use of the fan motor, and as long as it's not too high (I think anything below 10 amps you should be safe...shouldn't be that high anyway), you should be fine. Mount the fan with a study mount to the side of the case, and then look at the wiring schematic. I'm pretty sure your fan is multispeed, the schematic will tell you which pair of wires to use (Pretty sure black and white is full speed though). Then go to the hardware store and get a plug end for the wire. I would heavily recommend a safety grill or something to prevent anything being sucked into the fan.

Where would we look to get the wiring schematic? We have nothing but the fan to work with. Grills and stuff is taken care of, we'll be using some diamond grill security mesh.

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Well, that fan isn't what I thought it would be. I thought it would be the centrifugal style blowers on air handlers (much larger than that fan). That fan is actually easier to fit on the case.

 

As for my opinion, this is definitely something you would do because you can....It will run fairly cold, that's for sure. haha.

 

Look at the amp use of the fan motor, and as long as it's not too high (I think anything below 10 amps you should be safe...shouldn't be that high anyway), you should be fine. Mount the fan with a study mount to the side of the case, and then look at the wiring schematic. I'm pretty sure your fan is multispeed, the schematic will tell you which pair of wires to use (Pretty sure black and white is full speed though). Then go to the hardware store and get a plug end for the wire. I would heavily recommend a safety grill or something to prevent anything being sucked into the fan.

Found the schematic. 

UfXsdT1.png

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Found the schematic. 

UfXsdT1.png

 

What country are you at? This seems to be a NZ or UK unit (230V at 50Hz). I know in the US we use 60Hz.

 

If you're from the US, you're out of luck because getting 220V is a massive pain (Two different 120V lines). If you're in the UK (Where they use 230V as line in on one side with neutral on the other, you're fine. White and Blue are the wires you need, white to line, blue to neutral. You have the capacitor for the motor right?

 

Yeah, this wasn't the fan I was expecting though, this is for the outdoor condenser, I thought you were referring to the air handler (indoor unit) fan assembly.

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What country are you at? This seems to be a NZ or UK unit (230V at 50Hz). I know in the US we use 60Hz.

 

If you're from the US, you're out of luck because getting 220V is a massive pain (Two different 120V lines). If you're in the UK (Where they use 230V as line in on one side with neutral on the other, you're fine. White and Blue are the wires you need, white to line, blue to neutral. You have the capacitor for the motor right?

 

Yeah, this wasn't the fan I was expecting though, this is for the outdoor condenser, I thought you were referring to the air handler (indoor unit) fan assembly.

We're in Australia, on the motor it says 220~240V if that changes anything.

 

We have the capacitor yes.

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We're in Australia, on the motor it says 220~240V if that changes anything.

 

We have the capacitor yes.

 

Yeah, you're fine. The standard voltage for Australia / NZ is 230V 50Hz (Here in America, we use 120v 60Hz, with 240v 60Hz being high voltage). Yeah, you should be able to get a plug and splice the blue and white wires in (I hope there's ground somewhere on that). You're going to need some kind of switch to turn the fan off though. You should be fine to proceed though.

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