Outdoor Fan Blade Rotation

March 8, 2023

Motor Minute™ Technical Tip – Outdoor Fan Blade Rotation

Hi, Chris from Regal Rexnord here with your Motor Minute technical tip. Helping you become an HVAC motor pro one minute at a time. 

Today’s motor minute topic is outdoor fan blade rotation. 

We are going to focus on the direct drive axial fan blade applications, often referred to as a prop blade design. 

Determining the correct direction of the outdoor fan blade is quite easy if you understand where the air enters and exits. The air enters through the coil under the fan blade and exits out of the top of the unit. 

The fan blade is built with curved blades that push the air towards the outlet. 

This blade spins CCWSE or CWLE.

For this example, we can buy or set up the motor to operate related to shaft end or lead end based on how the motor is rated.
- CCWSE – Counterclockwise Shaft End
- CCWOLE – Counterclockwise Opposite Lead End
- CWLE – Clockwise Lead End
- CWOSE - Clockwise Opposite Shaft End

It will take some practice, but after you learn to focus on the curvature of the blade and where the air exits the unit, it will begin to make sense. 

Understanding the correct rotation is critical if you are replacing with a dedicated rotation motor. If you are replacing with a dual rotation motor, knowing the correct rotation of the air moving device will help you set up the motor to operate in the proper direction of rotation, the first time. Thus, saving the time required to reverse the motor after it has been installed or replace it with the correct rotation motor. 

Understanding the direction of rotation acronyms as listed on dedicated and dual rotation motors can be intimidating. For this reason, we gave that topic its own Motor Minute tech tip titled “FHP Motor Rotation”. 

And that’s a wrap on this segment of Motor Minute technical tips. Remember that we provide motor training and product information in multiple formats including videos, literature, podcasts, articles, of course Motor Minute technical tips and classroom education both online and face to face. All of this industry leading training is available at no charge to HVAC professionals at regalmmu.com. Thank you for taking the time to build your motor knowledge.