The design of single voltage fan motors rated at some nominal voltage with a plus and minus 10% tolerance will always result in the best performance to cost ratio.

Fan motors can be designed which are reconnectable for either 230-v or 200-v operation. It is also possible to design non-reconnectable fan motors which minimize the performance variations with respect to line voltage variations. In either case there are cost, performance and reliability pena1ities when compared to single voltage designs.

We will examine a specific application which uses a single phase permanent split capacitor fan motor. We will compare the three alternatives of single voltage, dual voltage reconnectable, and dual voltage non-reconnectab1e fan motor designs to determine the relative cost, performance and reliability of each choice.