Why won't the blower work? B&D BV3100

[mccutter]

Went to use the blower to blow out the shop the other day and it was inop. Checked the extension cord and it was fine. Blower worked when I last used it...

Curious why it was not working, I zipped out 16 screws to take a looksee as I figured I couldn't break it any more than it already was. Two piece clamshell with a couple latches--came apart easily and everything stayed in the lower clam. PS: my OCD made me get rid of the shoplift sensor before I did anything else!

Not much to the wiring: hot comes in to the impeller cover safety switch, then to the main switch, then through a fusible link to the motor winding, from the motor winding to a brush, through the armature out the other brush, then out to neutral. There is a resistor outside the main switch which gives it a "low" speed. High speed is straight through.

I'm not a fan of lawyer switches but the safety switch for the impeller cover is a good idea having busted the fins off of a different blower with my finger one time. LINK I got The Finger™ award from madam X that month. As this blower is also a mulcher/vacuum (never used) I don't know if I'd want to stick my finger into THAT impeller!

The reason why the blower stopped working became apparent, once apart. There was a scorched wire and the wire tie around it was melted through--I think I found the problem... An adjacent fusible link was not affected at all. Cut a little notch in the red wire going into the winding and ohmed all the circuits and everything was fine.

Cut off the insulation and the crimp, separated the wires and used a razor blade to scrape the charring off the copper of the black wire. For easier access, I removed it from the brush holder where it was retaining the spring. Scraped the varnish off the end of the wire coming out of the winding. Had a little wire nut handy, couple new wire tires, a little insulating goop inside the wire nut, carefully assemble the clams, install screws and done. Prior to assembly, I checked the ohms from hot spade to neutral spade at the plug was 2.9 ohms and through the low speed was 353 ohms and both readings sounded acceptable.

Of course the repair was successful and I proceeded to blow out the shop. The repair took about 20min. Sure could have thrown this in the dumpster, gone to the store and paid another $40 for a new one but that is NOT how it should be done. Any tree hugger/global warming fanaticist that goes out and buys new when an appliance breaks can kiss my arse... You're the one full of hot air!

[digger doug]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh3o1_whqu4

[toprecycler]

Nice repair and you are able to get another run out of it. Good thing you are handy with mechanical things. Not many people are today.


Things like this would better to have all kids go thru a class in school. At least it would be a lot better than some of the required classes, IMO.

Now, if you took that to a business, that had to make a profit, it would have been a minimum $75. By the time you have to pay a person for all the time involved, including talking to a receptionist/ cashier, the technician, shop overhead, with insurance being the highest cost probably, taxes, and all the other things I have no idea about, it quickly becomes a no brainer to throw that one away and buy a new one for $40.

So the real question is , if we made all the stuff we bought in America and stopped importing most of it, how much would that blower cost? Will we be able to afford our lifestyle that we are used to?


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[Ironman]

Originally Posted by toprecycler

So the real question is , if we made all the stuff we bought in America and stopped importing most of it, how much would that blower cost? Will we be able to afford our lifestyle that we are used to?


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That is a very good question. I know for me, my shop would have a lot less tools in it. Imported from the US, or imported from China makes no difference, it's still imported, so price and quality is the deciding factor.

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by Ironman

That is a very good question. I know for me, my shop would have a lot less tools in it. Imported from the US, or imported from China makes no difference, it's still imported, so price and quality is the deciding factor.

While you are correct, I look at the country items are coming from, what is
their standard of living, what are their wages. I consider, Canada, UK, Japan,
Taiwan and Germany the same as US made goods.

Now I have Chinese, Korean and Indian tools. I don't expect a lot out of them
but they still fit a spot in the price/value curve. I need a tool for a one time
use, China often gets the nod.

[milomilo]

Nice fix.

[mccutter]

UPDATE: this blower is STILL working fine. A month ago I did a similar fix to my cousin's Skil or whatever brand it was but near identical planned obsolescent issue. Due to space limitations, I used half a butt connector instead of a wire nut but same principle...

[digr]

Good repair!!