This seems a little silly, doesn't it? To ask to check rotation after you've been using your blower. Three phase motors can turn in either direction and by switching two of the phases you can change the direction of the motor. However, I recently had a support call from a planer owner who told me his blower had been working fine but recently had started overheating and shutting off. Before I went into troubleshooting eletrical components I told him to "let me ask a stupid question first?" He agreed and I asked him to check the rotation of the blower. He did think that was a stupic question as the blower was working fine so it "had to be blowing the right direction, right?" Well, actually, that's not right. Our chip extractor will suck chips turning either direction, however, in one direction it is more efficient at pulling chips than the other direction. He couldn't actually tell me that the blower was rotating in the direction the arrow indicated on the back of the blower, so he went and checked the rotation. Sure enough, he called back to say it was turning the wrong direction. All of a sudden he had about 30% more suction and his blower quit running hot!
This can happen to anyone. I recently heard about a similar situation at a small cross tie mill in my area where they had been spending a large amount of time unstopping their hose from their head saw. Someone finally realized the blower was turning backwards! What a difference!
So, if you don't know if your blower is definitely turning the right way, make sure! Don't be afraid to check it...you don't have to tell anyone if it's not. Just switch it around and get running with more power and efficency!
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