Swamp cooler pump

[hunterhare]

I was checking out this swamp cooler today and I think it's the switch but I'm not sure, asked some buddies and looked online but couldn't find anything that helps.

It seems to be the common 120 volt blower motor with hi and low,and 120 v pump.
They are the plug in kind.

So I'm lost at this point. The HI and LOW send power through the switch but the the other hot for the pump is constantly hot even with the switch to off. I checked the wiring on the back and it's wired right so maybe the switch is bad???

 

[hunterhare]

I was thinking the pump might run automatically until the float turns it off but then how would turning the switch to pump do anything? if the plug that the pump plugs into is constantly hot? and this constant is coming through the switch, it's not just a power source alone.

 

[GoldDigger]

A typical simple evaporative cooler control scheme will have one switch for the fan/speed and one switch for the pump. That does running the pump early to wet the pads before turning the fan. Also running just the fan for ventilation.
The next level of automation adds a thermostat that controls both fan and pump via a relay.
The total bells and whistles control I have lets you run the fan alone without thermostatic control but with an optional on or off delay timer.
Or you can run the cooler manually or with delay.
Or you can enable the thermostat and when it calls for cooling it runs the pump for a couple of minutes before starting the fan. And it will select high or low speed based on how high the room temp is above the set point.

I guess that the point I am trying to make is that the box that holds the fan and pump receptacles may have a lot more inside than just wires.

PS: The float typically connects to a valve not a switch and controls the water level independently of the pump action.
PPS: Some of the coolers have a second pump to periodically drain the pan to keep the water fresh.

 

[hunterhare]

I guess that the point I am trying to make is that the box that holds the fan and pump receptacles may have a lot more inside than just wires.

.

Thanks for all that information.

The box just holds the two receptacles in place. The pump has ground neutral hot, the motor has ground neutral hot hi and hot low.

My question is is why is the outlet with the ground neutral and hot (for the pump) supposed to be constant hot (for some reason idk) or supposed to be switched (which im sure it should be) because on the thermostat, it's in the off position and the pump line is energize and the wiring on the thermostat is correct. Shouldn't the pump be off when the thermostat is in off and then turn on when it goes to pump?

 

[hunterhare]

oh I think I should just wire both motor hi and lo to one switched leg and the pump to the other. I don't know what the constant hot is for, ill cap it off and see how that works. maybe I wired the motor wrong. maybe there was a pump before that needed a constant hot

 

[hunterhare]

I got around to finishing up that house today and It was the switch. In off, power was flowing through it and the motor did need an individual switch leg for hi, low, and one for the pump.
just a bad switch.