I once had an old commercial blower assembly on a 20-ton package unit, and the bearings and pulleys were seriously shot. I was 19 or 20, and as much as I tried, I just couldn't get the rusted hunk of metal apart. I tried penetrating oil, pullers, pry bars… I knew better than to beat […]

Can a single-phase motor run backward when start and run are swapped? The answer is (generally) yes. Is the motor designed to run backward by simply swapping run and start? The answer is (generally) no, with a few notable exceptions. Before we jump in, this article has two purposes. #1 – it helps you understand […]

Capacitors are traditionally tested with a capacitance meter (commonly found as a function within a multimeter), with the component taken entirely out of the circuit. “Bench testing,” as this method is referred to, is hands-down the safest method of checking capacitance in microfarads. All other methods require the capacitor to be wired into the circuit […]