Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace. Need advice

Hi. I would like some advice. I have an 18 year old Bryant furnace that seems to work fine. The blower motor went south on it last Friday. The company that I have a service contract with recomends replacement of the entire furnace as it has exceeded its life expectancy. They'll replace the blower on the old one, but are advising against throwing good money after bad. They say about $500 to replace the motor, about $2800 for the new furnace (both installed prices). It's a single family home. The current furnace is 125,000 BTU 60% efficiency, the new one will be 110,000 and more efficient (80%).

Please help me decide what to do. I am leaning towards accepting the advice of replacing the furnace, but was not ready for a big-ticket item just yet. I just want to know what the common sense thing to do would be. The service company is a reputable one and has been servicing this house for many, many years. I just owned this house for about 1.5 years.

Many thanks, Vladimir

Reply to
vferdman
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I'd call another company.

If those WERE my choices ($500 vs. $2800) I'd go with the new furnace. But the big question is:

$500 for a new motor sound rather high. $2800 for a new furnace sounds rather low. What exactly are you getting?

I'm not there and can't see what you have got....

Reply to
Dr. Hardcrab

"The current furnace is 125,000 BTU 60% efficiency, the new one will be 110,000 and more efficient (80%). "

I wouldn't spend $500 to repair a 60% efficiency furnace. I didn't even know they went that low 18 years ago. You didn't specify the fuel but if you intend on staying in the house for more than a few years and it's anywhere with cold winters, I'd go with a 90% or better furnace.

Reply to
trader4

I thought $500 for a motor is rather high also. I did not get an offical quote on the motor, but I did get an official quote on the furnace. Maybe the motor would be less, like $300, but still they say the furnace that's older than 15 years old is a waste of money to repair.

The furnace I would be getting for $2800 is Bryant 310 something. It is an 80% single stage jobber with an inducer fan. 2 year labor warranty, 5 year parts and 20 years on the heat exchanger. The fuel is gas, BTW. It is not the fancy wiz-bang 90% furnace with two heat exchangers and variable speed motor, etc. The motor is not variable speed, though it has 4 speeds that can be set long term. I live in Washington DC area, so no severe winters here, but still gets cold and nasty.

I am handy and can replace the blower myself if I knew where to get one.

Reply to
vferdman

The fuel is gas and 90% furnace is waaaay more expensive as they need to vent it differently than my existing one. The 90% would probably be in the $4K neighborhood, but I did not get a quote for that. I don't think I would recoup the extra cost...

Reply to
vferdman

Your present furnace is probably 80%, yes they lied, 500 for a blower , thats apx 350 to much. Replace an 80 with an 80% not smart all they want is your money. Of course no written load calc was done. A 94% unit should be apx 29-3200.

Reply to
m Ransley

Your present furnace is probably 80%, yes they lied, 500 for a blower , thats apx 350 to much. Replace an 80 with an 80% not smart all they want is your money. Of course no written load calc was done. A 94% unit should be apx 29-3200.

Reply to
m Ransley

If you've been paying for a service contract, have them replace the blower motor. Then, next spring, get prices and advice from 3 or 4 HVAC contractors. If you're planning on living there for 3 or more years, a 90+ furnace is worth it. They only use PVC for a vent, so unless you don't have an outside wall there should be no problem.

The basic cost of the furnace is higher than an 80+ furnace, but if you've got an old chimney, it may need to be relined. 110MBH is way too big for most houses. Have the HVAC companies do a heat loss/gain. Even after that's done, you still need to consider the size of the duct work, and size accordingly.

Reply to
Bob

Hi. I would like some advice. I have an 18 year old Bryant furnace that seems to work fine. The blower motor went south on it last Friday. The company that I have a service contract with recomends replacement of the entire furnace as it has exceeded its life expectancy. They'll replace the blower on the old one, but are advising against throwing good money after bad. They say about $500 to replace the motor, about $2800 for the new furnace (both installed prices). It's a single family home. The current furnace is 125,000 BTU 60% efficiency, the new one will be 110,000 and more efficient (80%).

Please help me decide what to do. I am leaning towards accepting the advice of replacing the furnace, but was not ready for a big-ticket item just yet. I just want to know what the common sense thing to do would be. The service company is a reputable one and has been servicing this house for many, many years. I just owned this house for about 1.5 years.

Many thanks, Vladimir

Reply to
vferdman

Blower motor died on my 13 year old Lennox a few weeks ago .. .. .. went to the local motor rebuild shop & got new Fasco motor, special mount adapter and a new start cap. for just under $90.00. Took all of about

15 minutes to swap.

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

Reply to
Anonymous

Exactly where do you think "they lied"? You think a professional HVAC company is going to come out and change a motor for $150!!! I dont want to start a flame war here Ransley because lately you have been pretty much right on with your comments. The motor is going to cost$150 to install??!! No where is this going to happen except by a side jobber or hack. $500 is close give or take a hundred or so. Thats pretty damn close to my book rate. Personally (To the OP) I dont think Id replace the motor even if you could do it yourself. Get 3 estimates by reputable HVAC contractors for a new furnace. Dont just get any 3 ol bids. Do a little homework. If you have to, go buy or rent a few heaters to get you by a couple days or so while you do your homework. With the price of gas, Id consider a 90% eff furnace. The two stage and variable is mainly just a matter of your creature comfort level. Keep in mind, if you are removing a fuel burning appliance from your chimney and leaving a lone gas water heater in that chimney, you may need to have it lined to keep the chimney from getting condensation damage. Good Luck Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

We are cheap and we charge $120 just for the service call. I doubt we could find a $30 motor somewhere.....

Reply to
Dr. Hardcrab

FWIW, I replaced the fan motor in my furnace a couple of years ago. The motor cost me about 100 bucks, and it took me about half a day, including finding and procuring the replacement. It was a pretty dirty job, though, so you might want to hire it out.

500 bucks seems high to me.
Reply to
CJT

First, buy one for $60 and install it yourself. Or call local hvac to install one. Don't forget to change run cap. ( Also it is a good idea to discharge existing cap prior to swap )

As for $2800 for bryant 310 no thanks, this is builder model ( worth about $600 ) I would ask for 312 only few $ more, or even better go with 90%s.

Don't listen to idiots who claim they only install "own" motors, even if they do, plenty of others that will.

Reply to
Brian

Hi,

I would get another bid to replace that motor if it were me. Most vendors will give you a bid for free, so what can you lose. If this vendor has the best price, then i would replace the blower motor and save the new furnace for later.

Frankly, the $500 cost replacement for the blower motor seems a little high from what I have seen in this area. However, I don't know your particular unit, so can't really know. I just know that two years ago, I replaced the blower motor on my mother's Majestic furnace (was 40 year old furnace), and it cost me a total of $275 bucks and that price including cleaning the furnace when they replaced it. That furnace is running today very well and the first company that took a look at it recommended the same thing that you have been told. I never regretted calling that second company.

That is my personal opinion on this issue..

Reply to
Tumbleweed36

We charge 477.00 for a new motor. One option we also offer is this: we put in the new motor and if you buy a new furnace from us we will credit the price of the motor towards the furnace. We give 30 days for this deal then all bets are off.

Reply to
almoran

You said you were handy... replace the motor yourself... it may not be the motor, maybe the run cap is bad, maybe just a bad connection

also depends how cold your family is right now and how long you can afford to wait...

Mark

Reply to
Mark

another idea,, if it is a multi-speed motor and one winding is bad, in a pinch you might be able to wire it to run at another speed...

Mark

Reply to
Mark

Most companies will give you a free bid on replacing your equipment. None hardly will give you a free bid on repairs. That would be utter insanity Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

Oh hell. Don't introduce some sanity, it's just uncalled for. They gotta charge $500, just think of what it costs to run the trucks, hire a receptions, build a warehouse, etc. etc. That's why it takes them 2 hours change the motor and 2 hours to get back and forth from the shop at $100 and hour.

Yeah, I know I'm being a jerk, but dependable motors capable of turning a fan for a 1500-2000 sq ft house shouldn't be expensive. Anything over $100-$150 means the motor is way over-built, way over-capacity, or just way over-priced.

If you want a motor that will run 24/7 for 30 years, then maybe you want to pay $350 for a motor.

Don't bet on a swap in 15 minutes tho.

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

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