Organ Mechanics What If The Organ Doesn’ t Come On?

Lately we’ve been getting frantic calls from clients starting with the words, “ Help! The organ won’t turn on!!” They continue, “ When we turn the switch on nothing happens!” The call is usually made by the church secretary who is trying to decipher what the organist has written. Nothing for us to do but schedule a service call.

To most, organs are sort of like cars. You get in, turn the key and the cars starts. Why? Who knows? Its the same with organs. The organist sits at the console, turns on the switch and, magically, the organ comes on. Why? Well, that’s the whole point of this article. I am going to explain what happens when you turn on the organ. I’ll leave it to your mechanic to explain how your car starts.

The switch on the console acts almost like a water valve. When the switch is off its like having the valve shut. No water will flow. When the switch is on its like having the valve open. Water will flow. Electricity can be compared to water because, like water, it flows from it’s higher state (positive) to it’s lower state (negative) just as water flows downhill. So, when the switch at the console is turned on, electricity flows through the switch to the blower motor. The flow of electric current through the motor causes it to turn. The motion is then transferred to the blower. The rotary motion of the blower produces the wind pressure needed to operate the organ.

This seems simple enough, right? What could possibly go wrong and cause the blower not to start? Well, remember last summer when you plugged the air conditioner into the same outlet as the refrigerator? (Hey, I’ve done it before!) What happened? The air conditioner and fridge ran for a few minutes but then *poof* both appliances shut off. Why? Sure, a fuse had blown! The A/C and the fridge were drawing too much current for the circuit to handle and the fuse, like a safety valve, blew and shut off the power before the wiring over-heated, possibly causing a fire.

Fuses are very important to the safety of any electrical circuit. In some cases, they protect expensive components from being destroyed (computers, high-tech. devices). In others they protect against short circuits which may cause someone to receive a shock (home appliances). And, as I’ve already mentioned, they protect against fire. The blower circuit on your organ, in accordance with electrical codes, utilizes either fuses (older organs) or circuit breakers (newer organs) or both to protect you and the church building in the event of a short circuit.

I’ll bet you can guess what I’m going to say next. If the blower won’t start, the first thing to check is the fuse or circuit breaker. Where do you find these? Well, a good rule of thumb is to ask your sexton or maintenance person. Without question, the sexton is the person most familiar with the church building and can direct you to the fuse or circuit breaker panel with astonishing ease. If you’re really nice to them, they may even change the fuse or reset the breaker for you. If, however, you cannot locate the sexton you can go in search of the panel yourself. The basement is a good place to start your search. If you’ve ever changed a fuse in your own home, you should be able to locate the panel. Once you have found it, open the cover and look on the inside of it. You will see a numbered listing of circuits that each fuse, or breaker controls. Look for the one marked ORGAN or ORGAN BLOWER. Once you have located the fuse replace it with a new one of the same amp rating. For example: if the fuse is marked 20A, it is a twenty amp fuse. You must replace it with another twenty amp fuse. This is very important for the operation of the equipment and your own safety. If you have circuit breakers you will need to reset the breaker. If, after you have done all this, the organ still won’t come on, or continues to blow the fuse or trip the breaker, you should promptly give us, at Patrick J. Murphy & Associates, Inc., a call. We will gladly schedule a service call as soon as possible.

I hope this article has been informative and will help you get the organ running if you sit down to play for Sunday service and the darned thing just won’t come on!

By Clement Mirto