[TowerTalk] US Tower Dayton AC Motor issue

[Scott McClements]

Hi,

I am in the middle of getting a used US Tower ready to put up. It has
the MDLP1000 unit with the Dayton 1HP motor. Without the belt on the
output shaft of the motor (free), I am unable to get it motor going
full speed. It will just hum, spin slowly (like 1RPM) and blow the
break within 3 seconds. I am able to spin the motor up to speed by
hand and then hit the switch and it will spin up to full speed. The
output shaft on motor spins freely and easily.

I have a 50 foot run of #10 back to the service entrance on a 20 amp
breaker.  Nothing else is on that breaker.  Without the motor I see
120V coming into the control box at the tower. When I hit the switch,
the voltage drops to 107.5 Volts and the amperage draw is 52 amps. It
will actually hum and slowly spin for about 3 seconds until the
breaker blows. I am using a fluke clamp on amp meter. Not sure how it
can pull 50 amps for 3 seconds through that 20 amp breaker, but that
is another story.  If I check things on the main breaker, I see the
voltage drop from 120 volts to 110 volts and 55 amps when I start the
motor.

If I spin up the motor by hand and the motor spins up to normal speed,
it draws 9 amps (still with the belt off - no load on it).

So I have read about voltage drop problems people have, but geesh, I
am running #10 right to the breaker and its 50 feet long.  Do I need
heavier cable or is it something else? Like maybe the starter
capacitor in the motor?  Its a 1HP Dayton 6K622N model ("Farm Duty
Capacitor Start"). I could probably run 220 VAC / 30 Amps to it as
well, if this would help (and is possible).

Thanks,
Scott, WU2X