Service and painting a 2T22

[texaschad25]

I am going to look at several 2T22's on friday for our city and was curious as to exactly what i need to look for on these things. I have been around this particular set of sirens since they were installed back when I was a little guy. Now that I have moved, it seems like they may come along with me and take up new residence in my small town. The original municipality really never had any problems with them. Also, can anyone tell me what color of "yellow" these things are and how hard of a job would it be to paint and service this thing while i have it close to the ground.

Thanks

Chad

[JasonC]

a 2T22 is a dependable siren that will last for many years. How far you want to go to repaint and restore it is up to you. You can do anything from sandblasting each part and painting it to just giving it a single coat of fresh paint. You will probably want to check out the motors, replace the bearings, and replace the brushes if it's single phase. Other than that, there isn't much to it. There are two manuals for the 2T22 on this site in the Manuals and Literature section.

[Justin]

Also, can anyone tell me what color of "yellow" these things are...

Funny you say that, there has been quite a debate over what 'yellow' is the true Civil Defence Yellow because the original specification has apparently gone missing.
A quick search should reveal the thread.

I am going to look at several 2T22's on friday for our city and was curious as to exactly what i need to look for on these things.

You need to verify if the motors are single phase or three phase power (indicated by an ID on the manufacturing badge on the siren). This can effect the 'install ability' or the locations at where the sirens are placed.
A motor of three phase in a single phase area will need three phase wired to it (and possibly vice-versa), or have a converter installed. A converter is not advisable because reliability can be severely compromised and even then the wind-up to 'full-power' is slow at best (evident from a collectors 500AT video).

One also needs to be mindful that with the original motors, they are not battery backup capable. The motors are AC and batteries are natively DC.
You can change the motors to the equivalent in DC (could be expensive), but again, reliability can be compromised.

Don't let that scare you though.
Only ever intended to help you.

[Robert Gift]

It is very difficult to find a dual shaft motor.
Even more difficult to find one that fits a 2t22.
I was told that even replacing our three-phase 2t22's motor with a Federal Signal single-phase motor would be very difficult and require balancing the rotors on the new motor shafts.