As an electrician, I am often called out to repair and troubleshoot Breezair evaporative coolers. Now I have one of these units myself and I just wanted to say never again will I purchase another Breezair unit. They are made cheap and fail a lot of the time. Not only that the replacement parts are very expensive.
I have replaced every single electrical part of my Breezair evaporative cooler over the last 5 years. Most were covered under warranty in the first 2 years. When I purchase an expensive appliance I want it to last. I have repaired more Breezair evaporative aircon models than any other brand. What does that say? Maybe the newer models are more reliable.
The parts that have failed are shown below. I will show you how to test each one further down in this troubleshooting repair guide.
- Tornado water pump
- Electric direct drive motor (Icon)
- Speed controller
- Breezair Electric dump valve
- 24V Water inlet valve
- Wireless remote control
Often it is easy to see why these parts have failed but other times it will need some Breezair evaporative cooler troubleshooting to work out the problem. So let’s look into how and why these parts fail so you can fix this piece of junk yourself. These swamp coolers are easy to repair so give them a go.
Now if you have a Coolair or Braemar evaporative cooler many of the parts are the same as the Breezair as they are from the same parent company Seeley International. So the parts and evaporative cooler troubleshooting guide will be the same for these brands.
Table of Contents
- 1 Breezair evaporative cooler service
- 2 Breezair evaporative cooler troubleshooting guide
- 3 Breezair evaporative aircon runs for a few minutes then stops.
- 4 Internal Speed Controller & Data Test (Wired/Wireless)
- 5 Seeley Tornado water pump not working
- 6 Breezair Water Inlet Solenoid Valve Test
- 7 Ball Float leaking
- 8 Breezair Salinity Probe Test
- 9 VSD Speed Controller Testing
- 10 Direct Drive Motor Testing
- 11 Breezair Fault Codes
- 12 How to reset Breezair evaporative cooler
- 13 Conclusion
Breezair evaporative cooler service
It’s a great idea to do a service on your evaporative cooler every year. This should minimize any problems. Check out my video below on how to service your Breezair unit.
Breezair evaporative cooler troubleshooting guide
Tools required
- Digital Multimeter with the ability to test Diodes
- Flat Screwdriver
- Pliers
- Small Brush
The most common problem I come across is the dump valve is not seated. This can cause a whole heap of problems such as water leaking, and the evaporative aircon not starting.
Warning
Always isolate the power before working on any evaporative cooler. There are electrical hazards and mechanical moving parts.
Breezair evaporative aircon runs for a few minutes then stops.
So you may be wondering why my Breezair evaporative aircon runs for a few minutes and then stops. This is a classic case of the dump valve that is not reaching the limit switch. There are two limits in the dump valve one for the open position and one for the closed position.
The Breezair cooler will wait 8 minutes for the water to be detected at the salinity probes before it shuts down with a fault.
As such, if you are DIY testing the dump valve limit switches and it takes longer than 8 minutes, you will need to turn off the cooler at the main switch to reset it. This will let you restart the swamp cooler on COOL mode before continuing.
The most common failure of the evaporate drain valve is that the dump valve inside the drain valve assembly continually moves up and down. This means it is not reaching the limit switch in the open or closed position. It tries a few times before going out in fault.
Breezair drain valve problems
There are five reasons for a limit switch not reaching the closed position.
- Object or dirt stuck in the dump valve drain
- The dump valve plug has gone hard should be soft
- The dump valve electrical motor failing
- The return spring has come off the drain plunger.
- The limit switch failed.
The motor inside the drain valve is a synchronous motor that has the ability to run clockwise or anti-clockwise depending on the limit position. They are similar to the synchronous motors found in my automatic projector screen that stopped working just smaller.
I’m my case the 24V AC motor failed and didn’t have enough torque to drive closed the plunger. It would work on the beach but as soon as a load was applied the motor would stall and then open.
If you go up and take off the Breezair cooling filters to the evaporative cooler you can watch the dump valve. It should close and remain closed while the aircon is running. If it opens and goes up and down a few times you have a dump valve problem. What it is doing is trying to reach the limit switch. Replace the whole dump valve unit.
I have replaced many of these genuine Breezair 24VAC dump valves it is an easy job, but be warned it is not a cheap part. Just use your screwdriver to open up the top tabs and pull out the dump valve. You can now unplug the electrical connection and replace it with a new one.
- Evaporative Cooler Drain Valve and Shutoff 24VAC
- For Seeley EM series part numbers 107684, 105345, and other models.
- Seeley brand – Breezair/Braemar
Internal Speed Controller & Data Test (Wired/Wireless)
If your Breezair swamp cooler is not working the first step is to check that the remote is working. Turn on the unit at the main power and at the speed controller. Turn the evaporative unit to manual and cool. The cooler should turn on close the dump valve and fill with water. The fan should then start.
If you find that the evaporator cooling pads are still dry or that there’s no water in the reservoir then you may have a wall controller remote issue. A faulty water solenoid valve, a faulty dump valve, or faulty salinity probes could also be the problem.
The next test is to put the swamp cooler into manual and vent mode on the remote control. Check that the water turns off. Increasing and decreasing the fan speed should also be tested. Check that the dump valve button works and water flushes out.
Wireless remote controller
Make sure that the remote control is paired to the Breezeair evaporative cooler and that a signal can be received at the unit.
If you press the power or any other button on the remote control and the remote display turns off you may need to change the batteries.
Sometimes the remote battery terminals can get corroded and will need to be cleaned up with some fine sandpaper.
How to reset the ID code in the Breezair wireless Harmony remote
Sometimes the Breezair remote control fails to talk to the evaporative air conditioner. This can be due to a few reasons such as low battery power or the remote being too far away from the evaporative cooler.
Electrical interference can also cause issues like a faulty Tornado water pump. Once they get old and loud they can cause electrical interference. I have seen a Breezair cooler not communicate properly with a wireless remote until the old water pump was replaced.
If the batteries are not replaced quickly when they go flat the remote control can lose its stored info. This includes its ID code.
To set the ID code again and pair the remote to the evaporative unit do the following.
- Turn off power to the Breezair evaporative cooler for at least 10 seconds
- Remove all of the batteries from the remote control
- Repeatedly press the power button on the remote control until the screen goes blank
- Turn on the power to the Breezair evaporative cooler and replace the batteries in the remote control within 4 minutes.
- The remote control is now paired with the Seeley Breezair cooler.
Next time you are ready to replace the batteries make sure they are charged and ready to go. Otherwise, you may need to pair the Breezair remote again.
Another problem with these Breezair remote controls is corrosion on the battery terminals. You can use some fine 400 grit sandpaper to gently rub off any corrosion on the terminals.
Seeley Tornado water pump not working
The Breezair tornado water pump starts to run after the water level is high in the reservoir. This is detected by either a float switch or the salinity terminals.
Clean the salinity terminals first to make sure they work. Otherwise, you will need to replace the Breezair Tornado Water Pump No. 110783.
Make sure to only replace the pump with another genuine Breezair Tornado water pump as it has the correct plug connection. This makes it a true plug-and-play installation.
The tornado water pump will start once the speed controller detects that water has been in contact with the salinity probes for around thirty seconds.
If the speed controller can’t detect any water then the pump will not start this is a safety feature. The Tornado water pump will pre-wet the cooling pads for a few minutes before the main fan will start.
Compatible part numbers 110783 and 095806.
Tipple problems: This water pump will be extra loud when there is not enough water level. These water pumps will fail over time and will have an excessive current draw or internal sparking of the carbon brushes. This will cause the Breezair fault circuit to trip the cooler. Replace the water pump.
There also could be dirt, sticks, rubbish, or insects trapped in the impeller stalling the pump. Give it a gentle tap to see if it can start running again. If you have 24V AC at the pump and the water pump is not running but turns by hand it needs to be replaced.
Swamp Cooler not blowing cool air fix
Check that the water pump is working and that there are no leaks in the pipe work. A faulty drain valve can also cause the swamp cooler to not blow any cool air into the house.
Check out our video on how to troubleshoot your swamp cooler not blowing cool air.
Breezair Water Inlet Solenoid Valve Test
To check if the water inlet solenoid valve is working, you will need to do a few tests. Turn the evaporative cooler on and set the remote to Cool mode on the internal wall controller. You will find that the speed control module will try to close the drain valve.
Power of 24V AC (not DC) is then applied to the solenoid valve. It should open up and allow water to enter and fill the tank reservoir.
There is a safety time out of around 10-15 seconds for the drain valve to fully close. If it doesn’t close you have a problem with the drain valve. This is enough time for the limit to be made before 24V AC is sent to the solenoid valve. This is to save water going down the drain.
My Breezair unit waits around 7 minutes for the water to be detected at the salinity probes before it shuts down with a fault. A slow fill could indicate a water inlet problem.
Many water solenoid valves can become stuck in the closed position over time. Especially if not used for a long time. This means no water can enter the evaporative cooler. Replace the solenoid valve. If the solenoid valve doesn’t close when de-energized water can spill over into the drain valve. Replace the solenoid valve.
There is a test you can do to check the water inlet solenoid valve. Start by draining all the water by pressing the drain button on the remote control. Once all of the water has been drained and emptied, turn on the evaporative cooler and put it into Manual and Cool modes.
After around 10-15 seconds, the water inlet solenoid valve should open and water will flow into the evaporative cooler reservoir.
If no water enters the evaporative cooler sump, then make sure the dump valve has fully closed and not moving up and down.
You can use a digital multimeter to check that there is still 24V AC (not DC) at the electrical solenoid valve. The closed limit must also be activated in the closed position.
If you still have 24V AC (not DC) at the solenoid valve but no water is flowing into the sump check that the water inlet valve is turned on. Replace the solenoid valve if the water inlet valve is on and you have 24v AC.
If you don’t have 24V AC power at the solenoid valve (check with a multimeter) and the water is turned on you could have a speed controller fault or a dump valve limit fault. Most often it is a dump valve fault in my experience.
The water solenoid valves will have a water flow arrow, so make sure to install it the correct way around.
You can buy a new Breezair water solenoid valve from Amazon. They are cheap and should last another 10 years.
Ball Float leaking
Another common fault is the ball float leaks after the correct level is reached. This is due to the rubber seal getting worn out. Just like on a toilet ball float these will need to be replaced after about 5 years or more.
What you will find that is water is overflowing from the ball float and either coming over the edge of the water cooler or going down the overflow drain.
To replace this seal isolate the inlet water to the Breezair evaporative cooler.
Pop off the blue plastic cover on the ball float and remove the black plastic pin. Be careful as this is usually a tight fit. I like to use some lubricating spray and a small pin punch to manually push out this pin, Make sure to support the fragile plastic supports that the pin goes through so you don’t break them off.
Remove the float arm and remove the square rubber seal.
If you don’t have a spare rubber gasket you can flip this rubber seal over and use the other side. This will give you another few more years of trouble-free operation.
Replace the float arm and press the plastic pin back into place. The blue plastic cover can now be pressed back onto the top.
Turn the water isolation valve back on and test out the water level. Adjust the ball float as necessary.
You can replace the whole Genuine Breezair, Braemar, Coolair vertical float valve part No. 901114 but it is cheaper and mare easy to just swap over the rubber seal.
This is a common fault and with some basic Breezair evaporative cooler troubleshooting, it can be fixed in 10 minutes.
Breezair Salinity Probe Test
The Breezair salinity detector is used to detect water levels. It does this by testing how electrically conductive the evaporative water is. The swamp cooler will not start the Tornado water pump unless the water is detected by the salinity probes. This is a safety feature.
When the evaporative cooler is fully drained and emptied the SAL (Salinity) LED will be solid red on the speed controller. When the swamp cooler is full of water the SAL (salinity) LED on the speed controller will be blinking red once every 4-5 seconds. This is a normal running condition. Happy days.
I have found that if the evaporate cooler is full of water, and the SAL LED is solid red, (not blinking) then the salinity detector probes are faulty. They could also have scale buildup that may need cleaning. Another possibility is that the salinity-sensing control circuit inside the speed controller has failed. But this is rare.
A 2-wire and a 3-wire water detector probes are currently installed on most units.
You can do a quick test of the 2-prong salinity probe version by using a digital multimeter. Set it to ohms and remove the salinity probe plug. Check from the plug end to each contact. Look for an ohm resistance of fewer than 2 ohms. Any higher and there is a problem such as corrosion, scale, or break in the wire.
Test the 3-prong salinity probe the same way as the two-wire probe by using a digital multimeter between the plug and the salinity probe contacts. It should be less than 2 ohms.
I have yet to see one completely fail as there are no electronics in them but often the salinity probe electrical connections will need cleaning.
VSD Speed Controller Testing
Warning -High voltages are inside the speed controller.
You will be required to turn off the evaporative speed control box, using the switch on the front of the isolator or at the main switchboard isolator. It is a good idea to wait for at least 30 minutes for any electrical internal capacitance to self-discharge. High voltages are inside the speed controller. Make sure all of the LED lights are off on the speed controller. (No power)
These tests mentioned below will show you how to check the Breezair output control circuits for any short and open circuits in the evaporative speed controller VSD. Faults in the speed controller could indicate a problem with the fan motor so test that one as well.
Unplug the fan motor cable from the speed control box and test the output from the speed controller using a digital multimeter set on diode mode.
These multimeter tests should all show a high resistance mega OHM reading. We are basically testing the internal diodes. Some digital multimeters will show an OL (Over limit) on the digital multimeter. Low readings under 1meg ohm could indicate an internal short circuit within the speed controller.
Faulty speed controllers will need to be replaced as they have no user-replaceable parts.
To do this test set your digital multimeter to diode mode. Place the positive and negative digital multimeter probe leads between each one of the 3 plug output points and follow the small table test below.
Because of the internal electrical winding wiring capacitance, it may take up to 15 seconds for each result to charge up and display properly on the multimeter. We want a high mega ohm reading or over the limit.
Breezair speed controller motor output test
Positive is the red probe and negative is the black probe on your multimeter.
| Motor Plug End Out x3 | Test 1 | Test 2 | Test 3 | Test 4 | Test 5 | Test 6 |
| o | + | + | – | – | ||
| o | – | + | + | – | ||
| o | – | – | + | + |
Check out the video below on how to use a multimeter to check a diode.
Direct Drive Motor Testing
The fan motors used in the Breezair direct drive coolers (EZD, EXD, EXH, EZH, EXQ) is a brushless DC fan motors also known as BLDC. These direct drive motors are wired in a “star” configuration even though they are single-phase input power to the Breezair main unit.
These older green-colored direct-drive motors in the Breezair evaporative coolers often develop short circuits in the windings due to vibrations. Especially with the older green-colored motors. The white motors are better but can still fail. I guess it’s the way they were made the windings tend to vibrate against each other and cause a short.
When short circuits develop over time in the copper motor windings, they can also cook and damage the speed controller. Often you will notice the following observations of a short circuit in the motor windings. The most common is vibration, overload trips, loud running noises, stalling, and buzzing sounds with erratic or no movement in the fan drive motor.
Check out these two easy ways I use to test the evaporative direct drive motor for short circuits within the electrical windings.
Evaporative Motor Test Part 1- The motor hand turn test
- Be sure to isolate the main power to the speed controller. Either at the switchboard breaker or the isolator switch on the speed controller.
- Turn off the mains incoming water to the evaporative cooler.
- Make sure all diagnostic LEDs lights are off on the front of the speed controller.
- Gently remove the motor power cable from the speed controller. Trace it to the fan motor if needed.
- Remove one or more of the side-cover water cooling pads. You will need access to turn the fan by hand.
- Give the fan a quick spin turn with your hand. Be careful.
You will get around 1 – 3 revolutions out of the main fan blades depending on how hard you spin the fan. If there’s an internal short circuit within the windings, the fan motor will stop. This is due to the magnetic drag often within ½ of a revolution. The evaporative fan motor should spin freely but you will feel some drag. - Move on to the next step Motor test part 2 to confirm a shorted-out fan motor. You can double-check if you have a short circuit in the internal copper motor windings by checking the winding resistance with a digital multimeter.
Evaporative Motor Test Part 2: Winding Resistance using a digital multimeter
This motor test requires a digital multimeter set to ohms to check the resistance.
- Be sure to isolate the main power feed to the speed controller either at the main switchboard breaker or at the speed controller.
- Turn off the mains incoming water to the evaporative cooler.
- Double-check that all the diagnostic LEDs lights on the front of the speed controller are off. No power.
- Gently remove the 3-pin motor power cable from the speed controller. Trace it to the motor just to be sure.
- Use a digital multimeter to measure the ohm resistance between pins one and two. One and three, and two and three. This is at the 3-pin plug of the evaporative direct drive motor power cable. It doesn’t matter where the positive and negative leads go as we are only measuring resistance.
I find that the resistance of each winding should be all the same within a few ohms of each other in the range of 10 – 30 ohms. Each motor will be slightly different.
A low resistance ohm reading under 9 ohms could indicate a short circuit in the fan motor windings. You should replace the main fan motor.
Breezair Fault Codes
Identifying Breezair fault codes can be tricky as they are only displayed on wired indoor remote controllers and on the speed controller as a flashing code. The wireless remote control cannot display or read any fault codes which is a problem to help working out the issue. They also tend to be unreliable at long distances of more than 10 meters. Fault codes are also available on the newer MagIQtouch remote wall controllers.
I recommend wired controllers for all new installations.
Breezair fault codes can also be displayed and read from the front display LED of the Breezair speed controller. This is shown by the blinking red Diagnostic LED this is called DIAG on the speed controller.
When the evaporative cooler fan is operating normally, the DIAG LED on the front of the speed controller is green and will flash quickly twice. With a small delay between the fashes. This is good.
If a fault is triggered on the speed controller the DIAG LED will turn red and flash a fault code. This flash code sequence is the fault code number. A single red Diag LED blink would indicate fault code 1, two quick red blinking LEDs would indicate fault code 2, three quick red blinking Diag LEDs indicate fault code 3, four red blinking LED lights would indicate fault code 4, and so forth. Reset the fault code by turning off the unit and back on again once the fault has been rectified.
The DIAG LED can change from green to red and back again, but the SAL LED is always red in color. It will either be flashing or constantly on this is normal depending on the water level.
Breezair Fault Code 1
Error Code 1 Indicates a communications problem with the remote control. Check the data cable between the wall remote control and the evaporative swamp cooler for damage and continuity. Check the wireless remote that the batteries are good.
Breezair Evaporative Cooler Service Code 2 Fault
An Error Code 2 means that there is no water at the sump covering the salinity probes.
Fix: The mains water supply to the cooler could be turned off, the solenoid valve may be stuck closed, the dump valve may be open and not be closed, the salinity probes may be dirty/faulty, or the speed controller salinity sensing circuit may be faulty.
Breezair Fault Code 3
An error code 3 that there is a problem with internal EEPROM memory chip corruption or failure. The speed controller will store a small amount of code data to help the unit run and remember settings. This has default settings for the operation of the evaporative cooler. Replace the speed controller this is not a DIY replaceable part.
Breezair Evaporative Cooler Service Code 4 Fault
An error code 4 means that the evaporative swamp cooler is not able to drain the water from the reservoir sump quickly enough. You will get a fault error code after around 4-5 minutes of the water being in contact with the salinity probes. The Breezair will go into fault condition if water is still detected by the salinity probes. Possible causes could be a problem with the drain valve such as a material blockage, scale, failed drain valve motor, or limit switch fault. Excess foam can also cause this problem.
Fix and replace the dump valve if not reach the limit and or clear the blockage.
Breezair Fault Code 7
An error code 7 is a 50Hz frequency fault. This is due to the fact that the mains power supply frequency is not normal. Australia has a standard 50Hz power supply frequency that is constant and should not drift.
If the frequency drifts too much such say between 45-55Hz a fault code will pop up. This is rare and I have yet to see this fault. It is designed to protect the speed controller and motor.
Cause: This can be caused by corrosion inside the speed controller eg rust, corrosion, moisture, bugs, dirt, or failed electrical capacitors. Portable generators that drift can have a bad frequency that can damage sensitive electrical devices.
I have seen old tornado water pumps cause electrical arching which can cause this trip. Replace the water pump. Welding near the evaporative cooler can also cause this error.
Breezair/Breamer Fault Code 8
An error code 8 means that a power failure has been detected such as a blackout/brownout. Turn the unit on and of to reset.
How to reset Breezair evaporative cooler
To reset a fault code on a Breezair evaporative cooler you need to turn off the mains power to the cooler. Waite at least 2-5 minutes and then turn on the main power.
The Breezair evaporative swamp cooler will perform some internal self-checks. If the remote is set for cooling the Breezair unit will close the dump valve, fill with water and start the fan. This is a pass.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you can fix your Seeley Breezair swamp cooler with the above troubleshooting guides. They are easy to work on but the parts cost a fortune.
Many of the older units have a lot of problems. The old green motors tend to fail within a few years if run at maximum speed. The internal windings tend to short out. This is a manufacturing fault that should never happen. The white motors are much better.
I brought my Breezair Icon evaporative cooler to save money but over the years it has cost a small fortune on repairs. I’m just glad I could do it myself.
This is why I have written out this Breezair evaporative cooler troubleshooting guide so you can save on some labor costs.
References:https://logisense.com.au Link to Breezair Fault finding instructions.pdf
Let me know in the comments below if you require any help or extra information.
I am a qualified Industrial Electrician for the past 20 years and I love to share my knowledge on home repair and maintenance jobs.
I love fast toys like Motorcycles, Cars, Jetskis, Boats, and Computers so writing about them is easy. Working on them is fun.
To keeps costs down I do all my own mods, repairs, and servicing. These skills I want to share with everyone. DIY is a skill everyone can learn.
Hi Mathew. I have an older Seeley belt drive cooler. The problem I have is when I turn the power on the motor will jolt about a quarter revolution and then won’t run. Have you any thoughts. Regards Ian
The starter capacitor could be faulty if it has one. I presume it spins free by hand.
Looks like the motor could be faulty. Take the belt off and see if the motor spins unloaded by its own power.
Hi Mathew, do you service the Melbourne area? Regards Toni
Our breeze air has power and on the controller it is turning but nothing is coming out of the vents.
hi mathew,
if you have time to answer it be appreciated
breezair evap is turned off
keeps dumping water.
we just recieved a $880.00 dollar watyer bill
i think that is the prob
can u have aguess at what it could be
im going to get on the roof tomorrow and check it out
paul
3 Possible reasons. Either the ball float seal is faulty, the solenoid is not shutting off when the unit is off, or the dump valve is leaking. Possibly a combination of all three.
Hi Mathew, I have a Breezair Mod # EXH 210-B Evap Cooler. Recently when we switched from vent to cool or visa-versa, the fan would sometimes not start up. I wouldn’t turn off from wall controller and then turn on, all ok. Now the fan will not start up at all. I have no fault codes on either wall controller or unit control box. All LED’s say it is normal. I have checked the motor windings, all appear within range. Also checked outputs of motor via Multimeter diode test. Again all ok. When unit is turned off at wall controller I have noticed the dump valve motor continually going up and down. When on cool it does seat in the closed position. Checked water sensors all good. I am at a bit of a loss now as do not want to replace things that do not need it. Many thanks if you could reply. Dave
Replace the dump valve, if it is constantly going up and down it’s faulty. It is most probably on its way out sometimes it seats sometimes not they fail slowly. The limit is not being made in either the up or down position.
It should look like this part https://amzn.to/3fEIzT5
Hi. How much less power do the newer icon motors draw than the older belt drive? I have an approx 17yr old 210. Has had 2 inlet valves and 1 new rubber in the float valve only in that time.Have changed belt and pads once.Does the water quality sensor detoriate as it does drop water fairly often ?
Thanks
That’s excellent run time out of that old unit. I have had so many issues with my Icon breezair unit that I would not recommend that brand. Maybe they are better now?
I have found that it does not drop much water. In fact, I like to dump the water myself on the controller every few days just to keep it fresh. You would lose more water due to evaporation.
Saying that icon is a very efficient motor due to the design so you do save electricity over a belt drive.
Hi Mathew , thanks for your help , my breeze air shows fault #2 and wouldn’t start cooling , after getting a new probe which didn’t help . I decided to consider the water was to pure ( live on a farm and use rain water from tank ) , I placed the probe into a glass of salted water and bingo it started straight away , I then removed the glass and it runs fine . I need a idea how to get around the water been to pure to conduct to circuit between the probes , without having to trick it with salty water . Hope you can help . Cheers Peter
Matthew,
Thanks for the detailed info on these units.
I am a HVAC tech and as a love job looked at an EXQ unit with the Magiqtouch controller fitted. On high fan speed (10) the unit draws 6 amps but the fan short cycles every 5 sec with the power, OL and fan speed LED’s cycling with the fan (power LED off, fan stops. Power LED comes on again, fan runs 5 sec and cycles off. Cooling turned off but does work.
SAL LED is red.
Wall controller does not cycle off.
This unit failed two weeks out of warranty. Must have a timer inbuilt.
Any assistance is appreciated as any service manuals online are incomplete.
Cheers
David
I have an older unit with a motor/fan belt. Ongoing issues with the remote frizting out at times and the AC turning off. Always worse when really humid. I have had batteries leak in my controller before and read where this could have leaked onto remote PCB causing issues with shorting when humid. I pulled the remote apart…PCB looked clean but I cleaned it with Metho and 400 grit on the battery terminals which had residual corrosion from leaking batts. Put back together and the remote worked well for about 6 hours then freaked out again, turning off thus turning the AC off. Put hairdryer on the unit, batteries back in, it worked and then I placed in a ziplock bag with rice (what they say you do with a phone if you drop it in water) and over 24 hours later and everything is working 100%. AC not turned off once and the LCD screen on the remote looks normal.
Had this not worked I was going to install hard wired controller which I’ve been advised would work with the current AC PCB/Controller unit…still would have cost $420 in parts… rice and ziplock bag the winner at the moment!! LOL
Hi Matthew,
I bought a S/H EXH 170 that was supposed to be working, but its not.
Motor will not run. Can hear a relay click when motor is supposed to start.
Motor checks out ok. All windings the same resistance. Motor coasts fine when spun by hand.
Control Module check reveals one output shorted in both polarities. ID is hard to read but chip appears to be a 10UP60B.
A Google didn’t bring up any Aussie suppliers. Farnell says they are NLA.
Do you know if they are avaialble here? Ailexpress migh be an option.
I have two exq type unit and have maintained them for 7 years, mostly solenoids. Last week I cleaned and serviced them for the summer. The first one, no problems. The second one, when I went to the wall mounted control and tried to turn on, I got no back light or text. Nothing. I took that control to my good/working unit and tested it there. It worked. It appears I’m getting no power to the control unit. Where do I look/test for power? I hope you can help. I have very little “good” literature to work from. Thanks so much.
You will have to take a multimeter up to the evaporative unit and check for power at the main switch. I have seen in the past that rats and mice do chew through cables. So maybe a remote control cable issue
Hi Mathew, thanks for the excellent troubleshooting guide. I’m having an issue that isn’t covered by the guide. After having the power off for a few weeks on my EXQ170 and then turning it back on my Magiqtouch unit no longer recognised the cooler. It said there was a difference in the settings. I did a complete system reset and now the Magiqtouch will not recognise the cooler. It just gives a blank name when it comes to discovering the cooler.
I’m wondering if there’s chance the control box is completely dead or if a part in the system could be faulting and as a safety the unit does not report back to the Magiqtouch correctly?
These water pumps are total and complete rubbish. Replace it last year and just went out on me again….and those “exclusive” plugs are a joke. What a freaking racket.
Hi Mathew, I have an breezair cooler that I would like to ask you what’s is the problem. It use to to work fine for past two year now I turn it on sounds like there’s a lack of power through out low fan,hi fan, lo cool, and high cool modes. I can hear it running and the motor the fan spins but barely air flow through.
Could be the airflow/rodent trap flap. This flap is on the bottom of the evaporative cooler that should open when enough airflow is moving over it. It could be stuck closed.
Hi Matthew
I have an Breezair EXH170-B. When I turn it on the water enters, the Salinity probes appear to be OK as the “SAL” LED blinks red once every 5 seconds. The issue is that the water pump does not start. I have replaced it. The fan starts turning after a few minutes as though it thinks the pads have been pre cooled. So it appears everything is effectively working but the water pump is not being triggered. Before replacing the water pump, the circuit breaker on the house power board was tripping, hence I thought the pump needed replacing. I cannot toggle the circuit breaker in the cooler so wondering if this needs replacing and how is that done if that is the problem ….or is it something else.
If the circuit breaker is still tripping you may still have a short circuit somewhere. Ensure the controller is set to cool otherwise the water pump will not start.
The dump valve must be closed with the limit switch made.
It sounds like maybe a control board issue.
G’day, I have two Breezair units, both are EXH190-H. one unit is working fine, the other unit is not sending any voltage to the motor. Everything else works fine. I’ve looked at the circuit board and there are no hot spots or things blown up. Any ideas?
Hi, the remote for my breezair evap seems to be faulty, sometimes it will turn on, sometimes not. It changes from cool to vent and up and down by its self. It will not stay on cool, turns off after 2 minutes running.
Did clean the connection points and managed to get it to stay on vent.
Sometimes the cool or vent buttons work as up and down, weird stuff.
New remote is 370, don’t want to spend that if it turns out not to be the problem
Sounds like the remote. Is it a battery remote or a wired remote? I have the battery remote that I had to take apart and clean all the internal contacts as I had some battery leakage. I know crazy prices for remotes and other Seeley parts. Highway robbery.
Hello Mathew, I have a Breezair EXH21O-RD D 2OO8, which has worked really well all these years. A couple of days ago I started it post the Melbourne winter. I started on vent, it runs for about 10 secs and shuts off. Tried cool same issue, wont stay on for more than 10 secs. During the 10 secs the fan does run and I can increase/decrease the fan speed.
Any thoughts, would really appreciate your guidance.
Thanks very much
Battery or wired remote? These units seem to turn off after a while if they can’t detect the remote.
Electrical interference from a bad water pump can also cause issues. Replace it if original.
If the dump valve is not reaching the closed or open limit the evap unit may stop.
Take some of the cooling panels off and run the unit to check out what happens.
Hi mate, great post.
I have a exh210-g cooler.
First use of the season ha service code 2 come up. Changed water valve and unit worked great.
We have recently had a heap of storms and power outages. Since then I noticed the safety switch for the breezair is off. Try flicking it in and shuts off instantly.
I went up and turn off the main switch in the unit and can turn safety switch back on but as soon as unit switch is back on the safety switch trips.
Could this be a faulty control box?
Any help would be appreciated
A short circuit somewhere. Possible fan motor or control box fault. Hard to tell. Try unplugging all the out put wires from the control box and see if the power stays on this will narrow down the problem.
hi i have just installed a second hand braemar unit that uses the 4 wire wired remote. when its powered up the remote says cool and man but the dump valve does not even try to close. there is power to the dump valve to have it open blue and brown wires have 24vac across them i tested the dump valve and it works when power is aplied through the other red wire and closes so valve is good. is the control unit faulty, is there any way of testing this or the signal from the remote.
Hi Great site, i have just replaced the PCB on my Breezair EXH190 cooler and the remote controller has come up with “service” in the display, do you know how i can rest it i have tried shutting down the main supply for 2 minutes but no luck
Hi Mathew,
Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge & writing this amazing post, it’s really going to help me out with future maintenance!
Not sure if you happen to know the answer to this, however I have a Breezair EXH with a standard wired wall controller like this one: https://shop.seeleyinternational.com/products/113456
I would really like to install a Magiqtouch but I’ve noticed the wall controller uses an RJ11 connector and the Magiqtouch uses RJ12.
I assume this means I need to upgrade the controller box in the unit itself. Do you know if it is possible to do this upgrade on the EXH to suite the Magictouch and what model controller box I would need to get?
Hi Mathew , I have a Breezair EXH 170. Biggest heap of junk I have ever paid money for with never ending problems. The latest problem is the drain valve issue . I have watched you’re video on it and it explains things perfectly. If I was to replace the drain valve myself is it a simple thing to do or should I get a qualified sparky. If it is a simple plug and play type thing I am confident enough to tackle it or does it need more than that? Any help appreciated thanks again Michael.
Very easy to replace as it is just plug and play. This is what you need https://amzn.to/3X1aZtM
Don’t forget to drain the water and isolate the electricity.
Hi Mathew,
I had the same issue and replaced the drain valve. after power on. I can start the cooler. when I went to the service menu in controller, set drain to on, try to test if the drain valve could open, it didn’t open.
I thought i could fix the fault code 4 error by replacing it. pipe is not blocked. now i am stuck and hear broken.
any idea if any other thing could be wrong?
thanks
You need to take the drain valve cover off and check for power/voltage at open and close positions. One of the limits could be stuck.
Hi Mathew, thanks a lot for your reply and all the information/videos about the breezeair. It did help me to resolve the issue.
Regarding to the drain valve, I made a mistake. In service menu, when drain valve option is on, it will close. when it is off, it will open. I thought it was working the other way around. So replaced drain value is working as expected.
Thanks again for your informative sharing.
Hi Mathew S
I Have a Breezair EXH210B. The fan motor do not want to start. When I open up one can hear in the cotrol box “clac-clac clac-clac all the time but the motor refuse to start running. All the other components are working fine according to my limited knoledge.
Hi Meiring vZ, did you ever get a resolution oaths? I have a similar issue with my EXH210 where the motor has suddenly stopped working. Testing per Mathews awesome guide shows the internal resistance to be fine, all reading at around 17 to 18 Ohm, and fan spins freely when spun. We have recently replaced the controller box due to another issue, and fan ran fine for a few weeks, then we went away for a week and now not working. Checking the wiring on the controller side of things also shows correct O/L levels, so doesn’t seem to be the controller box either. Just don’t want to buy a new motor on a whim and have it be something else. Did a new motor fix it for you?
I have seen motors fail and take out the control box. Often its a short in the winding that can fail over time.
I have an EXV 155 breezair evaporative cooler. When I went to start it up this year the solenoid valve was bad because it wouldn’t let any water into the cooler. I bought another one at Appliance Factory Parts online and it seems like that one was faulty too because my understanding is that the breeze air is not a water hog But it’s using like 10 gallons an hour. Some guys came today and replaced the drain valve and the solenoid valve again and put a new 3/8 Inch copper line in to replace the old quarter inch flex hose and it seems to have slowed a little but I’m using so much water it doesn’t make any sense. It’s not running off the roof and it’s not really that hot here right now in New Mexico it’s 81. What could the problem be? Anything I can think is that the two leads that go to the solenoid valve Are touching somewhere. I don’t know i’m really out of ideas as to this water usage that’s going on. I don’t understand it. If it was running off my roof I could see it but it isn’t
The only way to see what is happening is to take off all of the panels and start the system. Watch what happens. Is the dump valve sealing, is the float valve stopping the water at the correct level. Do you have overflow issues, or a leaking hose.
The solenoid is fine it only lets water in not out.
Hello Mathew.
I’m having an issue with my drain valve on the same model you have gone into detail with.
the red indicator light on the bottom right “sal” is continuously. everything else is all good. (2 green flashing lights on)
I think this is forcing the drain valve to stay open.
I’ve cleaned the probes but hasn’t fixed the issue.
any tips
Great work Matthew.
TONG THE MOTOR?
I diagnosed the issue with my old Breezair ES165 air-con, and bought the replacement parts (the small plastic pulley on the electric motor for the belt drive to the drum fan, and an A54 v-belt). The Seeley parts warehouse advised me to get a tech to “tong the motor”. Would you explain what this means please? I’ve searched the ‘net, a few engineering glossaries and a few dictionaries; to no avail. Or is this just Seeley getting back at DIY repairers?
It means to check the resistance between the phases in the motor as well as check the insulation of the winding’s to earth.
Hi Mathew,
I’ve got a Breezier EXH-210 and the fan will not start either in cool or vent (in manual mode). No code given on the wired wall display. 2 flashes on the unit control module indicated code 2 fault.
-Drain plug seals and water inlet flows.
-Pump works and water flows from top.
-I can manipulate water inlet with play on the float.
-Salinity prob tested both with red flash every 5 sec and cable ohms in range.
-Tried testing motor output circuitry, not sure i’ve done this right. Checked both plug and connector points. One of the leads gave me a reading of (.016 in diode setting) whereas the other just remained on OL.
Any suggestions on further checks or even a diagnosis?
you have to test both the motor cable and the output to the speed controller. Any low reading from the output from the speed controller could indicate a blown diode. This is usually caused by a faulty internal windings of the motor. Both could be bad. Not sounding good.
Use a digital multimeter to measure the ohm resistance between pins one and two. One and three, and two and three. This is at the 3-pin plug of the evaporative direct drive motor power cable. It doesn’t matter where the positive and negative leads go as we are only measuring resistance.
I find that the resistance of each winding should be all the same within a few ohms of each other in the range of 10 – 30 ohms. Each motor will be slightly different.
A low resistance ohm reading under 9 ohms could indicate a short circuit in the fan motor windings.
Hi Mathew
Thanks an absolute mill for going to the effort of making this page, high help!
Similar to above, I have an EXH210 with a fan that has stopped working. We replaced the controller box a month or so ago as one of the traces had blown, and when the pump came on it would short out with a loud pop.
We have just been away over Easter and come home to now no fan. System fires up, valves close, water flows etc. No fan, same in Vent mode too.
Testing the motor plug (old green one) I get good resistance readings between 17 and 18 in all 6 combos of the 3 pins. From your comments it seems this is a correct result.
Testing the controller side I get O/L on the same pins. I believe this indicates the controller is fine and not shorted.
Interestingly, when I test the old controller board, I get between 18 and 19 on the motor pins, suggesting the old controller was actually failing. Is it possible this has failed and partially fried the motor? Have you ever seen the motor fail while still showing good resistance readings?
Any thoughts would be hugely appreciated. We live remote so getting a tech out is painful, so need to try diagnose myself if possible. The motor testing as fine resistance wise is what is throwing me.
Do you get any alarm codes? The green motors are the ones that fail all the time. Insulation breaking down over time. No fan in vent mode means its the motor or controller.
Sometimes the motors can test ok then vibrate and short out. This then causes the controller to often fail as well. Its one or the other or both. Sorry
hi Matt, I’ve just replace the dump valve and the speed controller because the fan in my unit, EXS 200, just stopped working. I had a tech out an they said that the motor tested OK but it wasn’t getting power so the issue was the speed controller. Now I’m getting a message on my wall controlller MAGIQTOUCH that asking me if I replaced the wall controller or the board. When I select board it says that it will re-establish connection when power is restored? I have power at the board because the LED light is on. Is there some code I should have to let it recognise the new board?
Needs to be paired to the main unit and controller. Turn power off and then on again
CONNECTING THE CONTROLLER cont
Select “ALL NEW SYSTEM” option and start the
“System Installation Wizard”.
Accept “01” as the number of coolers/heaters to be installed.
The controller will scan to find the component (cooler/heater).
When it has been identified, continue to the operating screen.
Im not sure exactly the models no you have but just google the model for both the breezair and the magiq.
Failing that have to get the tech back in to pair up.