Motors storing

For large motors, manufacturers usually recommend to rotate the motor shaft by hand every several month. I think it is not necessary to connect the motor heater if motor is in stock. Because before commissioning, by megger test and then use of dryer oven (if necessary) we can dry the motor windings. However manufacturer's recommendation about long period storage conditions shall be considered.

All manufactures give very good advice on motor storage. Fill with oil that will be used at plant. Mark and rotate shafts very week 10 to 15 rotations, by hand and leave shafts at different mark. With grease rotate shafts as per above. DO NOT add grease, there enough grease in a motor to last a storage of 10 years. Fluctuations of humidity and temperatures are havoc to insulation. Keep the heaters on if possible and keep all motors covered. Have motors stored away from freeways, loud noises and construction sites. The vibrations induced into the motor will cause bearing damage, all the efforts will be to no avail.

Good luck,

Mayt2u

In addition to what has been said before,

Don't use plastic bags, and Don't wrap it in plastic.

Try to have dry storage, with temperatures not below 50⁰F and not over 110^oF. Humidity is your best enemy!

Wangito.

Cool,Dry,Mothproof.

No heating needed-COOL Room!

Allow no vermin/reptile/flies/bees/hornets/rats.

Rotate once a month by hand.

Keep a logbook and note unusual behaviour and sign DONE-OK-Time.

Preferrably the same maintenance Engineer.

Deserves the attention.

Didn't you say LARGE motor costing $10,000 plus?

Don't store the motor by leaving it sit on a concrete floor. The humidity at floor level combined with the dust from the concrete and floor traffic will rot the metal very quickly. Build a pallet at least 12-15cm high and put the motor on that. Cover with a cloth such as a typical summer bed sheet to keep the dust off. Too heavy a cloth (canvas or something like that) will hold moisture in. Plastic wrap is right out of the question. You can "fog" the motor with a non-flammable oil mist to keep the rust off the parts as well. They make this type of oil for storing marine engines but I've found it's good for motors as well. It won't rot the insulation in the windings but keeps everything from growing furr.

If the motor has a heater built in that might be good, if not there are low power low temperature rod heaters available that will warm the motor a few degrees but not use a lot of power.

I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but if you get into big temperature swings during the day, especially from below freezing to just above freezing then you will have to keep the motor in a heated room or condensation will be a big problem.

If for some reason it has to be plastic rapped, use a bulk desiccant inside the bag. You should still rotate the Assembly to prevent oil film loss on the wear parts.

You did not state type, size, length of storage, or if the motor needed to be used in a hurry. Then we could be more specific.

Brad

A particular problem occurred with a pair of pumps mounted on a single skid-frame, and configured to run duty/standby.

The skid frame was isolated from the floor by vibration dampers, so the frame could wobble a little without transmitting much noise to the floor. The duty pump had been running close to its maximum delivery point for some time and a decision was taken to switch to the standby pump so as to enable servicing to be carried out on the duty pump. The standby pump generated considerably more noise than the duty pump upon start-up and continued to do so while running, which caused concern. Further, the load current was greater for the standby pump at the same operating point, which was considered to be related to the noise.

The cause was eventually determined to be the vibration from the duty pump causing the bearings in the motor in the standby pump to develop microscopic 'flats' in the motor shaft as a result of the duty pump shaking the standby pump; the flats in the standby pump motor shaft trundling round the bearing surfaces caused all the noise.

The moral of this little story is as follows: if they're on the same skid frame, for better motor life change over the operation of the duty and standby pumps rather more frequently than once every six months.