hvac help again

So I was listening on my cb radio after installing antenna. As it turns out, my furnace fan, as it kicks up near full speed, it makes noise on the radio. It runs faster on ac mode. I don't think it would make noise in heat mode. I see the fan has a shitload of wires feeding it. It could just be a static thing. I will make more tests. Anybody heard of this type of complaint.

Greg

Reply to
gregz
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Yes, all the time because the motor/blower is designed to run faster in the a/c mode to make sure you move enough air across the Cooling Coil which is usually mounted above the furnace . However, you may want to examine the blower wheel to be sure a small piece of debris didnt end up on the blower wheel which will drastically change the sound of the blower ; also, make sure your air filter isnt too plugged as the blowers noise will be affected if theres too much restriction from a dirty air filter. Lastly, check your return air grilles and make sure they are unrestricted and that all of your supply registers are open .. as this too can affect blower noise . Finally, make sure the blower door on the furnace is securely fastened and the door seal is in place and still in good condition otherwise youll get a strong whistling noise around the door cracks . Finally...if you want to.....take a video of the furnace in operation which will give us a sound bite so we can actually hear what you are describing .

Reply to
ilbebauck
1) Motors can throw RF. 2) cold air is heavier, so the fan runs faster. Needs more power, to push cold air into the house.

Which, specifically, do you wish to ask about?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Greg

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Variable speed ECM motor, or pulse modulated if you will. That is a common problem, and I have not yet found the combination to knock the noise completely out of my radios. Thus far, I have replaced the board in the furnace with the latest version and put snap on ferrite beads on the power and control (thermostat) wires. I am still in the process of getting it narrowed down. I have however lowered the noise level from S-8 fown to S-3/S-4. The noise is spread spectrum from 10mhz to up past 30mhz. CB is close to the center @ 27mhz. I have a couple of customers (also HAM radio operators) that also have issues with X13 motors which are a hybrid. In the case of the X13 motors, there is a noise spike every 18khz which is indicitive of a switching power supply. I have been in close contact with the engineers @ Rheem about the problem and will keep you updated. FWIW, some of the other manufacturers (Carrier, Trane, Lennox) do have RFI/EMI kits available.

Reply to
Steve

Thanks. I'll try to find where rf is getting out, and I'll check frame and possibly put filter on ac input. I have portable devices, I'll try probing around. I have a goodman.

I still have to filter my led light drivers, which I hear on fm broadcast band.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

Wow, my thermostat is definitely radiating. I'll clamp that off.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

Modern systems use variable speed fan and (more importantly) compressor motors to save energy. The motors are run like synchronous AC motors - permanent magnets in the rotor with field coils that switch sequentially pulling the rotor around with them, or three phase AC induction motors.

They call that DC inverter or variable speed AC drive. The semiconductors switch abruptly on or off and that will cause a certain amount of RF noise. The semiconductors have to work that way to be efficient. The frequency of AC power sent to the motor changes with speed.

It would be interesting to know the pitch of the sound you hear. Various switching schemes "chop" the power on and off in different ways.

Generally speaking, an ounce of prevention at the source is worth a ton of elimination at the affected appliance - if the noise is that annoying. My electric range was causing my telephone modem to malfunction - nothing at the modem did anything to eliminate the problem yet a simple inductor capacitor filter on the 50 amp range circuit fixed it. Likewise turning the stereo off would cause the computer to crash - a simple "snubber" across the switch contacts on the stereo fixed it.

Reply to
default

Oh the skip is on these days. Very few locals actually. Cb is the only thing a trucker has for communication. No other means is workable. Frs quickly loses contact over hills. I'll never forget, you better slow down. Somebody warning me of deep water on the road.

I finally hooked up my sears road talker ssb, converted to Ham 10 meters. That same noise is there. Something seems wrong, I can't hear any stations. Maybe nobody uses those frequencies. Maybe my radio is off frequency. Doing research.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

The sound only occurs near higher speed. It changes overall pitch, but it's got high richly harmonic trash. I checked low frequency, nothing.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

I think CB is totally useful. Darn shame a few people make noise, and ruin it. As for me, I've been on CB for a lot of years. Not as much, now days. I should have it on, more of the time.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Oh the skip is on these days. Very few locals actually. Cb is the only thing a trucker has for communication. No other means is workable. Frs quickly loses contact over hills. I'll never forget, you better slow down. Somebody warning me of deep water on the road.

Greg

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I consider it a possibility of it being very important in a disaster. The only communication may come using solar and wind, water, power.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

My HF HAM rigs all have the MARS mods done to them... Yes, they do CB also... but I try not to transmit with them on the CB freqs unless I have to.... something about 200 watts out of the box.

Reply to
Steve

At least a few people still have CB rigs. It doesn't need a repeater, or phone line to work. So, yes, CB has a good potential for being useful.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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I consider it a possibility of it being very important in a disaster. The only communication may come using solar and wind, water, power.

Greg

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

You might check the integrity of the ground on the sheet metal of the furnace. Then maybe walking around with a portable radio, if you have one, to determine where it is strongest. Switch circuits - try different electrical outlets if that's a possibility. Most of the problems I've seen are caused by RF being generated as a side effect then being re-radiated from the electrical wiring or conducted along the electrical wires. (don't overlook any low voltage thermostat circuit in that respect)

It can be frustrating finding the cure, but at least you already found the cause....

Reply to
default

CB = redneck telephone

Reply to
Steve

I threw out a perfectly good one since I haven't used it in over 20 years. You must have a lot of stuff! : ) I'm trying to swap stuff for space to put better stuff!

Bill

Reply to
Bill

In a big emergency, the cell phone probably won't work.

And, the truckers will be a good source of un-government- filtered information.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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I've got all my old shit...Washington base, Lincoln mobile. K40 and Antron Antennae. All of them jacked up with extra channels. I also have a thousand watt kicker.

A cell phone is a far better choice.

If the apocalypse comes, I won't be concerned with what truckers are doing.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Cell phone system can be shut off by govt, just like they can ground all the planes on sept 11.

Hard to shut up a couple million CB operators.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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CB = redneck telephone

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Sadly, I have way too much stuff. But, it will be useful some day. The cry of the pack rat bird "useful some day".

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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I threw out a perfectly good one since I haven't used it in over 20 years. You must have a lot of stuff! : ) I'm trying to swap stuff for space to put better stuff!

Bill

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

After Katrina, the *ONLY* communications that worked were HAM Radio, and CB. Cell phones were all out for several days, and some areas were out for weeks. Power was out for as long as 4 - 5 weeks. I lost commercial power for

10 days, phones and cable were out for 2 1/2 weeks. The local TV station was up on generators, but unless you had a generator of your own, you didn't know what was going on. For a week, the TV stations source of news was what came in on the HAM radio, or what literaly walked in through the back door.

Personally, I have a whole house generator, so I wasn't lights out for but just a couple of minutes. I didn't lose any antennas, so I was on the air almost continuously when I was at the house. Second day after the storm, I was at the TV station passing message traffic for them. When I was on the road and stopped anywhere, I was passing message traffic for folks with the rigs in the truck.

BTW... almost *EVERY* fridge/freezer that was lost was due to running on generator and they let the generator run out of gas, or they shut down the generator when the fridge/freezer was plugged in and running.

Reply to
Steve

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