Furnace motor - Too much to pay??

[tomkanpa]

My neighbor called me over, said that the AC/Furnace and basement lights were off but the breakers weren't tripped. So I looked, found one labled basement lights which seemed to be tripped but very little. I turned it off, then on and the lights came on but the furnace didn't. I told her to turn the fan on at the thermostat. She did, the lights went off. She wanted to call an electrician, I suggested a furnace man. Saw her a little later and she thanked me for the suggestion. The repair guy came, run a few tests, said that it looks like a job for an electrician. Then he tried one more thing and determined that it was the furnace blower motor. He replaced it and everything was working. It's a 13 year old Carrier High-efficiency furnace. The motor and labor was $310. This seemed like a lot to me. I didn't say so. What do you think, was she over charged??

[tomkanpa]

It was Friday, 8/19 in Western PA about 12 miles north of the next Super Bowl Champs and Stanley Cup Champs!!

[tomkanpa]

Maybe, maybe not. We just replaced a furnace for a customer because the blower motor went out. Our cost for the motor was $800!!

____Reply Separator_____

Why did you have to replace the furnace? Why not just the motor?

[Greg O]

Maybe, maybe not. We just replaced a furnace for a customer because the blower motor went out. Our cost for the motor was $800!! Greg

[Jeff Wisnia]

You didn't say where you live. That price could be very fair in Manhattan and a bit high in McCook, Nebraska.

There's a tremendoues difference in cost of living between different parts of the country and people in the repair business have to live too.

The repairman had the diagnostic skills to find out what was wrong and you didn't.

Sure, you could shop around and buy a new blower motor for maybe $50 and put it in yourself, like I did last year. But that turned out to be a bigger PIA that I'd expected because the sods who'd originally installed the air handler routed the refrigeration lines right over the access panel for the blower. So, instead of being able to just slide the motor/fan wheel out in one piece I had to disassemble it while it was inside the air handler squeeze it out past the refrigerant lines and then put the new one in the same way. It felt like doing dentistry by acessing the teeth through the patient's rectum.

HTH,

Jeff

[Greg O]

$800 dollar motor in a 13 year old furnace, plus the fact that he is a GOOD friend of the owner of the company I work for = new furnace at cost!

Even so I would be reluctant to put $800 in 13 year old furnace. Greg

[Scott McDaniel]

Sounds fair to me, considering where you live (maybe even a little low, depending on how difficult the job). The motor probably cost anywhere from

50 - 150 bucks ... plus the cost to get it there, an hour or so of time to install it, plus overhead, insurance, advertising, profit, etc etc.

[Carolina Breeze HVAC]

Well, since there is no telling what brand motor he put in, what their labor rates are, if they are T+M or Flat Rate.. Personally, its high...but hey, shes got air now right?

[Dr. Hardcrab]

Depends on your are, but if it was today (Saturday) that sounds about right.......

[Greg O]

I donno abut the house not being average, probably 3000 square feet, but the furnace was a 100,000 BTU Trane. Greg

[George E. Cawthon]

Obviously not an average house.

[josh]

For my area, diagnostics probably would have ran at least $100. I think I would've been happy to pay $310 for the total.

[Tekkie®]

tomkanpa posted for all of us... I don't top post - see either inline or at bottom.

I thought Philly was on the Eastern end...