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Annual Electric Motor Checklist for Reliability

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The New Year’s Resolution Guide to Your Motors

As we step into the new year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the health and readiness of your operations. Electric motors and their ancillary parts are critical to keeping your business running smoothly, yet they’re often taken for granted until something goes wrong. This year, let’s resolve to take a proactive approach to maintaining these essential assets. Here are some key areas to review and optimize:

1. Do You Have the Right Spares on Hand?

Unexpected motor failures can lead to costly downtime. Having a spare motor ready can make all the difference in maintaining continuity. But how do you know when you need a spare? Our guide provides actionable insights to help you decide when investing in a spare is the right move for your operations.

In addition to keeping spare motors on hands, you may want to evaluate keeping spare parts on hand. These parts may include bearings, pulleys, or specialized parts like encoders. We keep a large stock of spare parts on hand for the hundreds of repairs that we conduct every month. Furthermore, we keep a stock of spare parts for different industries such as the Machine Tool and Printing industries. Make sure that you store these parts properly. Below we show a picture of rotors for servo motors that are wrapped to prevent dust and other contaminates from impacting the material.

Spare Parts for Motors

2. Are You Storing Your Spare Motors Properly?

Having a spare motor is one thing, but improper storage can render it unusable when you need it most. Factors like temperature, humidity, and physical protection play a critical role in extending the life of stored motors. Learn how to store electric motors properly to ensure they’re ready for action. We keep a large inventory of spare motors at our headquarters for the Machine Tool and Printing industries. These motors are wrapped and stored in a humidity, climate controlled environment.

spare motors in storage

 

3. Is Your Preventative Maintenance Schedule Up to Date?

Preventative maintenance is the cornerstone of reliable motor performance. Regular inspections and servicing can identify issues before they become costly problems. This blog outlines the benefits of a consistent maintenance schedule and how it can save you time and money.

For facilities with DC motors, there are specific maintenance needs to consider, such as brush inspections and replacements. Check out our detailed guide to ensure your DC motors are in peak condition.

4. Are You Installing and Maintaining Belts Correctly?

Belt-driven systems are common in many operations, but improper tension or installation can lead to inefficiency, wear, and failure. Learn how improper belt tension affects your belt drive system and discover common belt problems that you can address proactively.

5. Have You Scheduled Infrared Analysis?

Infrared inspections are a highly effective way to identify potential issues with your equipment before they escalate. Many property insurance companies favor facilities that conduct regular infrared analysis, so it’s worth discussing this with your insurance provider. Explore the benefits of infrared inspection and consider scheduling this service as part of your annual maintenance plan.

Infrared Inspection

Infrared Inspection

6. Are You Leveraging Vibration Analysis?

Vibration analysis can be a powerful tool in predicting motor maintenance needs or determining when a motor requires repair or replacement. Regular vibration checks can detect imbalances, misalignments, or bearing issues before they lead to significant downtime. We work with our customers to create tailored schedules—whether quarterly, monthly, or bi-annually—to suit their operational demands. Learn more about vibration analysis and how it can benefit your facility.

Start the Year Right

By addressing these key areas, you can set the foundation for a smoother, more efficient operation in the year ahead. Let’s make the new year where we prioritize reliability and efficiency for electric motors and their supporting systems. If you have any questions or need assistance with your motor maintenance strategy, don’t hesitate to reach out. Here’s to a successful and proactive year ahead!

How Improper Belt Tension can Affect your Belt Drive System

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V-belts are an important part of a power transmission system. They allow for the transfer of energy from one source to another. While belts require little maintenance, they can greatly be impacted by improper belt tension. As discussed in our Common Belt Problems blog, improper belt tension is a leading cause of issues in your belt drive systems.

There are two scenarios for improper belt tensioning: too tight and too loose.

When a v-belt is too tight:

If a belt is too tight in a system, it can add stress to your bearings. The added stress to bearings can result into over amperage of your motor and potential motor failure.

When a v-belt is too loose:

When a v-belt sits loose on a pulley, the belt can slip while in motion and cause extra friction. The additional friction can result in a buildup of heat on the belt and the pulley. The excess heat can cause premature damage to your belts.

Some symptoms of improper tensioning include:

  • Cracking of the belt
  • Pieces breaking off
  • Hardened appearance
  • Squealing during startup
  • Over amperage of your motor
  • Pulleys wearing out prematurely
  • Worn our front motor bearing

How to check the tension of your v-belt:

If you notice any of these issues while examining your drive symptoms, or if you’re installing a new v-belt, we recommend that you test the tension of your v-belts. Follow this step by step process to check your tensioning:

  • After installation of your belt, take your Optikrik tension gauge and insert your finger underneath the rubber strap.
  • Next, place the Optikrik at the center of the belt; lay it flat and parallel with the belt edge and then press slowly and straight down on the belt.
  • Continue to press down with the Optikrik until you hear a click.
  • After the click, you can now read the belt tension by looking at the cross point of the scale.
  • Next, compare the measured tension to what the tension of the belt should be by using Optibelt’s formula posted below.

If the tension is correct, you are good to go. If the tension is off, make some adjustments and continue to test your tension in order to ensure the reliability and up-time of your belt drive system.

Buy an Optibelt Optikrik to properly tension your v-belts.

Optibelt Belt Tension Gauge Instructions

Common Belt Problems: Keeping Your Belt Drive Systems Running Smoothly

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Belts, along with electric motors, shafts, and pulleys, are a critical component of power transmission in belt drive systems. While belts require very little maintenance, improper belt tension, misalignment of pulleys, mishandling of belts, and environmental factors are common problems that can shorten the life of your belts and bring your system to a halt.

Improper Tension of V-Belts

If a belt is not tensioned properly, it will ride too loose or too tight on the pulley. A belt that’s too loose on a pulley will cause slippage, which leads to heat build up from friction. This heat will damage your rubber belts and cause the belts to crack and break. A belt that’s too tight can add stress to your bearings and cause your motor to over amp, leading to motor failure. Making sure that your belts are tensioned properly is simple and can help prevent the added costs associated with electric motor or belt failure.

Here are a few signs that a belt is improperly tensioned:

  • Cracking of the belt
  • Pieces broken off
  • Hardened appearance
  • The belt squeals during startup
  • Pulleys wearing out prematurely
  • Over amperage of your motor
  •  Worn out front motor bearing

We recommend the use of a tension gauge like Optikrik by Optibelt to ensure proper tension. To learn more about improper tension and how to check the tension of your belt, read our blog How Improper Belt Tension can Affect your Belt Drive System.

V-Belts that are not tensioned properly:

V-Belt not tensioned properly

Misalignment of Pulleys and how they impact your V-Belts

Pulleys need to be aligned properly in order to prevent premature wear on belts and pulleys, increased vibration and drive instability. The following are the types of misalignment:

  • Parallel: A pulley is outside the plane of the other pulley, but their shafts are parallel
  • Angular: The pulleys are in the same drive system plane, but their shafts are not parallel.
  • Combination: Pulleys can be misaligned with a combination of Parallel and Angular misalignment.

Always check the alignment of pulleys after tensioning the belt because sometimes during tensioning, the pulleys can move. To check the alignment of pulleys, you can use a laser alignment tool or a machine straight edge. Check out our blog on our how experience field service technicians use Laser Alignment to align pulleys: How to: Laser Shaft Alignment

Types of Misalignment:

Motor Misalignment pulley and belt

Mishandling of V-Belts

Mishandling of belts can also lead to premature belt failure. Here are a few things to keep in mind when using belts:

  • Belts should never be forced onto pulleys. If the belt is too tight to put on the drive system, remove one of the pulleys and then install the belt.
  • When working with belts, never twist, bend or crimp the belts.
  • When replacing belts on drive systems, use matching sets. It is a good practice to replace all belts on a belt drive, even if a belt looks in good condition.

Environmental Factors the impact your V-Belts

Even though belts are durable, there are still some environmental factors that affect them:

  • If possible, keep belts in an environment less than 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Do not allow grease, oil, lubricants and etc to contaminate the belts.
  • When changing out a belt, it is a good practice to clean the pulley grooves. Any dust or debris can negatively affect the belt and the pulley.
  • Harsh environments such as high humidity, extreme temperatures and direct exposure to sunlight can cause premature failure.

Understanding the common issues found with belts and knowing how to prevent them, can help improve the up-time and reliability of your belt drive applications.

How to find a replacement V-Belt: