Analysis of the Repair vs. Replace Decision for Small AC Motors

Abstract

This morning in the course of my discussion, I would like to cover how we at Westvaco were handling our motor replacement decisions, how we are handling them now and how we determined the costs and benefits of such a change. As you have already gathered, some of us feel there is some money to be saved through the purchase of high efficiency AC motors in the 1 to 250 HP range. Our analysis at Westvaco suggested to us that there is a great deal of money to be saved. You have heard this from the suppliers side, General Electric and Baldor, as well as from the users side, Owens-Corning Fiberglass. Speaking from the user's standpoint, Mr. Nester addressed many of the technical and economic considerations which go into the decision whether to buy a standard efficiency motor or a premium high efficiency motor. He also commented briefly on the repair/replace decision. This last point is the question we asked ourselves and the topic of my presentation today.