Help. Jurry rigging an old furnace blower for attic

Hey guys, hoping we got an electrician that can point me in the right direction. 3reef always seems to be more helpful than other DIY forums so...

Background:
with the 100+ heat our ac unit is not keeping up very well. I talked to a guy that was involved with the install and he pointed out that the cold air return does run through the attic which of course probably hits 125+ easy on a day like we've been having. We used the insulated foam board to make the duct work but in this kind of heat it's just not enough...

The plan:
My dad has an old blower from a furnace that i'd like to simply plug into an outlet or wire into a switch. I don't want to do anything crazy like controlling speed or hooking it up to sensors or anything like that.

The question(s):
1. Can I simply take the Hot/neutral/ground going to the motor and wire it to a plug or into a switch?
2. Which wire is the hot/neutral? (Pictures below)

I have no clue what this box is, guessing it's either a sensor or fuse or something...


Here are the wires that used to go from the motor to the control board pictured below... Being an idiot i pulled them off the board not realizing they went to the motor... I'm assuming either the Red or Yellow is Hot, Black another Hot, and white being the neutral. not sure what the blue, orange, Red/Yellow(which ever isn't the hot) are...


Control Board

 

It is a 120 volt motor correct?It will be if it came out of a gas or fuel oil furnace,if it came out of an electric furnace it could be 240volt.

The two brown wires are going to a run capacitor,you'll want to leave them.

Typically the white wire will be your "common" with black being high speed,red being med/high,yellow being med/low and blue being low speed.

So yes,your white wire and which ever speed you want to hook up (for a/c it's typically high speed).So black would be your "hot wire to an outlet,white will be your common or neutral,and you should have a green wire just hooked up to the casing somewhere,that will be your ground wire.Also tape off or cap with a wirenut any unused leads as they will be "live".

 

ok that makes sense... so, even if i only hook up a hot to the black the red/yellow/blue will become live?

 

Yes,all wire are attached to the internal motor windings,so there is continuity thoughout the motor and they will be live.

 

cool thanks so much for the help... managed to tie up a pig tail to it and ran a successful test without blowing anything up or electrifying myself no to figure out a good mounting option...

 

An electrician would likely be little help, it's the HVAC guys you want. It looks like one of them just helped you out, and me as well, LOL

 

Thanks,I was an HVAC service technician for 23 years,being an electrician comes with the job.

 

Good deal!

 

yeah i can imagine. I was fortunate enough to get hooked up by a buddy that has an HVAC company when i was renovating. He sent one of his buddies in on the side and between him and I installed the whole system from scratch in about 2 1/2 - 3 days and that was waiting for a custom made box for the thing to sit on. Learned alot that's for sure. I love doing stuff like that though, gives me enough knowledge to be dangerous in the future Best part is, materials and labor included, we only spent between 4-5k, ductwork and all!

 

oh, and figured out a decent way to mount it for now... got it hanging on a slab of plywood with a hole cut in it for the duct in the attic access in the garage... decided to put off the rest of the electrical work until tomorrow. Thanks again for the help, was greatly appreciated! I love 3reef!