ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Motor help

Phil,
My advice before you do anything with this motor, is dismantle it and have a good look at the seals,bearings and armature.
You say it has run before, but it is not clear when.
Bearing races can get distorted if left in the one place for any length of time, this can affect how well the armature turns within the narrow gap between the rotor and the stator and that gap is not that much.
To merely run the thing is inviting disaster.
The other thing that concerns me a tad, is that using an older type motor, the power factor of that motor isn't going to be that great, motors have improved considerably over the years.
The actual in-rush current would be a lot larger, than for a modern motor of the same rating.
Personally, I wouldn't use a phase converter on any motor unless it was the last resort, the reason for that being, converters have a habit of inducing harmonic currents into the lines supplying them.
What I would go for is a new motor and a Variable Frequency Drive, built for your voltage and load in mind.
No use mucking around, mate, it would save tears in the end.
Just my $0.02 worth.