Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.

[vferdman]

I just went to Grainger and brought my whole assembly there with me. We took the motor off the wheel (took a little convincing, but came off) and the guy looked up the replacement. My original is a 1/2 hp GE unit, the replacement he found was a Dayton 1/2 hp same rpm (can't remember now), same shaft, the only difference is the replacement is 3 speed, the original is 4 speed. I had the high and low connected to what probably is cooling and heating. I noted down all the connections when I removed the original and will hook up the new one the same way. Total cost with the new capacitor: $69.20. If this works when I install after work tonight, I will have saved a lot of money. Thanks to all for encouraging me to replace. My hesitation was due to lack of knoweledge of where to get the replacement. Grainger seems pretty good for that.

Thanks! Vladimir

[Mark]

great!!!!

if you feel like buying yourself a present with all that money you saved.......

go to Radio Shack and buy a clamp on current meter and you can easily check the current draw of your new motor and make sure it is hooked up correctly...

Mark

[vferdman]

Mark, you mean Radio Smack has inductive current meters? If so, how do I go about checking the motor? Get it up to full speed and see if it draws the max rated? Please explain...

Thanks, Vladimir

[CJT]

Better still, you can get a serviceable one at Harbor Freight for probably under 20 bucks (they were on sale for $12 a few weeks ago). I checked the one I bought against an RMS in-circuit ammeter, and it seems fine.

[Brian]

Sooo what you are going to do with rest $430?

Just kidding, marry X-mas.

Brian

If original hvac company wouldn't have been that griddy they could of enjoyed some profit....

[vferdman]

You're right. I called them and said what's the alternative to the new furnace? They said well, you'll be throwing good money after the bad, but you can replace the blower motor. We'd have to sell you the wheel as well as those things usually stick to the shaft so much they can't be removed, and we'll have to inspect the heat exchanger and if we find cracks we are obliged by law to shut off the heat (you can re-start at your own risk), yada, yada, yada... The more he talked the more I was seeing through the thin veil of wanting to sell me the furnace. I may still need a furnace, mine is 18 years old and may very well be on its last leg, but I want to be able to make the decision calmly, not under pressure of "no-heat in the dead of winter". So, if this fix will see me through this heating season, it will have paid for itself. BTW, what are the risks of running the furnace with a damaged heat exchanger? From what I read, the CO is not that much of an issue since the heat exchanger is under positive pressure from the blower and the flue gasses just will not escape into the distribution air. Am I wrong on this? I understand there is no real good way to check the heat exchanger, but are there signs of a HUGE problem? Like if I look inside and see orange flames or something like that. I don't, BTW, I see nice blue flames that look as they should.

Thanks, guys! Vladimir

[m Ransley]

Get a Co alarm anyway one with digital read out, ones I have seen hold any peak reading in memory. Co is bad and any reading relating to the furnace heat exchanger means replace it as they only get worse. Chimney issues can cause high Co readings also, but you don`t indicate any issue. Get qualified bids and a written load calc , I will bet yours is probably 80% efficient and 94%+ is the way to go,not 80% your heating guy just wants an install. Ive had qualified bids of 29- 3200 for 70000 btu 94.5% VS DC units with good thermostat, plus 10 yr warranty. 2800 for an 80% sounds a bit off, but my bids were in the off season, not now when all are busy.

[Dr. Hardcrab]

wrote

More power to ya. Then you can get 3 or 4 quotes from reputable companies in the off-season so you aren't pressured as much. Do yourself a favor and don't try to do it during the peak cooling days of the summer.

Keep a couple CO detectors up and "running" just in case......

[Pop]

1/2 hp GE : unit, the replacement he found was a Dayton 1/2 hp same rpm (can't : remember now), same shaft, the only difference is the replacement is 3 : speed, the original is 4 speed. I had the high and low connected to : what probably is cooling and heating. I noted down all the connections : when I removed the original and will hook up the new one the same way. : Total cost with the new capacitor: $69.20. If this works when I : install after work tonight, I will have saved a lot of money. Thanks to : all for encouraging me to replace. My hesitation was due to lack of : knoweledge of where to get the replacement. Grainger seems pretty good : for that. : : Thanks! : Vladimir :

It's so great when a plan comes together, isn't it? A little common sense, some intelligence and a smattering of experience somewhere can save a diy-er lots of bread. Now, take the money you saved, put half in the bank, and blow the rest on something nice for yourself; you deserve it, IMO.

Glad you posted back.

Pop

[RP]

The other real danger is a house burned to the ground. Because the hx is under positive pressure a crack tends to cause the flames to roll-out. Depending upon safeties present or not present, and assuming that they are well placed and not stuck, you may or may not have concerns. It's time to think about replacing. Not only are the newer furnaces more efficient they are much safer. HTH.

hvacrmedic

I understand there is no real good way to check the heat

[George E. Cawthon]

Actually they are %9.95 on sale here at Harbor Freight, digital read out. A clamp meter has two jaws that go together forming a hole. What you do ,Vladimir, is open the jaws so you can move one of the hot wire into the hole and then release the jaw. The meter will show the amps in that wire when the motor is running.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Poor advice. Take the money you save and buy a case of beer for everyone that helped you with this project. We'll be even more willing to help in the future.

[George E. Cawthon]

Uh, you are forgetting something about the furnace construction. The burn areas is just a short distance from the filter housing which is often just part of the cold air return duct and is often very leaky.

Assume that you have a CO problem. The positive pressure may well push most of the CO into areas where it is sucked up the flue, but some may go outside the furnace sheet metal move up 2-3 feet and get sucked into the air duct.

[Dr. Hardcrab]

I like Sam Adams Winter Lagar....

;-]

[CJT]

What warrants that assumption?

The positive pressure may well push

[CJT]

Wouldn't inspecting the furnace reveal whether that is in fact an issue? Or are you assuming it's broken just because it's more than a decade old?

[RP]

Not necessarily. Every year that goes by the heat exchanger becomes more and more spent. When it cracks an inspection will reveal the crack, when performed properly. Before it cracks there is no f****ng crack to be revealed. Elementary Watson.

Seems your the only one assuming.

hvacrmedic

[George E. Cawthon]

Maybe it was poorly worded, it is an if-then statement. It wasn't meant to indicate that he really had a CO problem.

[mm]

l bought, maybe at Harbor Frieght, an attachment clamp-on that works with a multimeter, plugs into the + and - and lets me use the 2V AC scale to measure AC amps. Unfortunately my cheap meters didn't have a

2V AC scale (more like 100 and 200 volts)

But I dug out a better meter that had one. Then I noticed that with that scale, at the full 2V, the clamp on would be indicating 1000amps or was it 100 and the lowest amount I could possibly measure was to one decimal place: 0.3 amps , .0.4 amps, etc. So I wouldn't be able to use it to measure the current in the Hot Surface Ignitor of my friend's oven.

Then I noticed that that particular circuit was easy to open at the wire nut, and I could just use the AC current scales on the pretty good meter, and that's what I plan to do.

So I wouldn't recommend the accessories that plug into a regular meter.

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[mm]

Mine is 26 years old. 27 seasons at the end of this season. . One of my neighbors with the same furnace at the same age had his replaced a month ago.

I had to replace the fan motor too. I screwed up, coudln't get it out of the housing, and paid them. Shame on me.

Also, the first summer I had the house, the transformer powering the thing failed. They wanted 200 something for the control unit, but I whined a bit and he offerred to sell me a transformer that didn't fit physically but has worked electrically for 22 years. I mounted it inside the furnace panel and ran wires from it to the circuit board. I suppose I sealed the hole where the original transformer had been, but right now I'm not sure.

They say I could save money with a more efficient furnace, but the plan is to fix all house leaks and see how much I really use. After I had been here a year or two, my oil supplier said I used less oil than any of my neighbors that he supplied. Don't know why, but I think he was telling the truth, because the question was whether to have the furance cleaned.

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