First off hello to all those who read and post here. I am a newbie to this group but I was hoping for some opinion from those with more experience then me.
I have a Ruud gas pack furnace c.1996. About three weeks ago it started making a horrific noise and stopped heating. If I turned off the heat and just ran the fan it ran fine, so the main fan motor wasn't the problem. I got a number for a freelance HVAC guy who told me the draft-inducer blower was bad. I ordered a new one from electricmotorwarehouse.com and he came out and installed it for me. Presto! My heat had never worked so well. He showed me the old blower assembly and it was corroded beyond belief. only about one fourth of the squirrel cage was left, so I have no doubt that it was bad.
Then two nights ago I notice the house is a little chilly and check the thermostat. I could hear the "tick" sound indicating that the heat was supposed to be engaging, but the blower never turned on. When it was working the inducer motor would start as soon as the heat was supposed to engage I think. Again the fan is fine. The controls seem to be working. The HVAC guy came out yesterday and said the new inducer motor is bad.
My question is, is this a common thing? Are electric motors sometimes just bad and flake out after a couple of weeks, or do I have a deeper problem? The guy who came out said the controller board looked fine (we had the controller board replaced about two years ago.) Is there a rely or something that could have burnt this motor out? The old motor showed no signs of being burnt out. In fact it was still spinning even in its horribly corroded state. This new motor just doesn't seem to be doing anything. It's not locked up, if you spin it by hand it spins fine.