Carrier inducer motor questions

[Peabody]

I have a Carrier 58WAV upflow furnace in the garage, and two days ago we changed out the main blower motor. When we fired up the furnace again, the draft inducer motor squealed for maybe a minute, then quieted down.

Since then, it has been as quiet as a church mouse. I even shut down the furnace for several hours this afternoon, but there was no squealing when I turned it back on. But the ambient temp was much warmer today than when we changed the blower motor, so the inducer motor didn't get as cold when it was off.

The bottom line seems to be that it squeals only when the motor is really cold. That never happens in cold weather because the furnace cycles often enough that it doesn't get really cold. And in warmer weather, the motor never gets that cold in the first place, even when the furnace is off.

I try not to go looking for trouble. And I will be selling the house this spring. So I'm tempted to just leave it alone unless it starts squealing under normal operation. And really, I'm not sure the motor is actually on the verge of failing any time soon.

Unless I want to pay Carrier prices, it would take me a week to get the parts from Amazon, which would include the motor, the fan blade, and possibly three grommets and a gasket - probably $100 or more. So it would be bad if it completely failed suddenly. It just doesn't seem likely that that's going to happen, and I think I would have time to order the parts if it stated squealing. I assume these are sleeve bearings. Can they be lubed?

Well, I would appreciate comments from HVAC guys about whether I'm thinking right about this. The tech who did the blower motor replacement says the inducer motot will fail, probably at the worst time, and I should replace it. But he quotes $300 just for the Carrier parts, and as of now, I can't get it to make any noise again. What do you think?

[Clare Snyder]

Buy the $100 unit from Amazon. Replace it yourself if and when it fails,

Relatively cheap insurance - and it WILL eventually fail - and when it does Carrier won't have one in stock - you can almost bet on it.

[micky]

Sounds good to me.

You're tough. YOu can take it.

Is there an opening, a little pocket near the axle on both sides.. I managed to replace my roof fan three times before I noticed where it was to be lubed.

Maybe they are oil-impregnated? Oil comes out when thhey get hot, and is soaked back in when they cool off. I have no idea where such bearings are used.

Don't they always say that? BTW, I'm not an hvac guy.

I wouldn't fix it until it broke. You can go to a motel if it's that cold for a lot less than his markup on parts, or his labor.

I had a squeaky blower, the guy replaced the motor, and it still squeaked after he left. In my case, it was the fan blade.

[Peabody]

I don't see anything like that. Here's the motor:

> I wouldn't fix it until it broke. You can go to a motel > if it's that cold for a lot less than his markup on > parts, or his labor.

Well, as I said, I'm going to be downsizing in the spring, so this is my last winter here, and I just hate to spend this kind of money on something that won't cause an inspection problem, and may not cause any problems for the new owners either. My AC is R22, so they will probably be changing everything out soon.

And of course there's the risk of screwing something up in the process of doing the repair. Apparently you have to cut the motor shaft with a hacksaw because the fan's set screw is frozen in place. Blaster doesn't work.

In my case it definitely was the blower motor. It would barely turn, and would no longer start up.

Well, I think it makes sense to at least wait until it starts making noise in normal operation.

[trader_4]

If it was me, I'd probably not do anything either. One option though is to buy a motor at a good price and have it ready. If you don't use it, probably will sell on Ebay.

[micky]

I don't see any place to oil that. It's a different style from my roof fan an da different style from my blower fan too.

I called the company after he left and I got the motor back that he replaced, and I think they sent me a new squirrle cage, I think at no charge, but I didn't complain beyond that. I was going on one of my big trips that year and didn't have much time. That still meant I paid for a motor replacement which was probably quite a bit more than a squirrle cage replacement would have been.

Then, I didn't replace the squirrel cage before I left because I wouldn't be there to hear it and I wasn't worried about noise, only about the motor overheating and causing a fire (even though I think they can't do that). It was in the basement and I could barely hear it upstairs and if I hadn't been going out of town, I would have waited longer in the first place.

When I got back from the trip, it didn't make any noise for years. Maybe I still haven't replaced it. Of course it was a different noise, just the squirrel cage vibrating on the bushing.

I also changed oil companies because I couldn't count on them to do good repairs, and years later when I changed back to them, the prez said I should have talked to him directly. I guess I really don't like complaining about a workman. I figured he might have heard that the motor was good, but that doesn't mean his boss needs to know everything. And if I had complained, what would the prez have done. Refund the charge for the motor and charge instead only for the squirrel cage and send someone to put it in? I don't think he would have done all that, even though it's the right remedy. He would have said, Well, we don't guarantee that we'll replace the right part. Right? So we charged for the part we replaced.

Can't you still top off with r22. If I were the new owner, I wouldn't replace the system until it broke.

Yes.

[Clare Snyder]

That is JUST the motor - anf getting the "fan" off the motor without famaging it will be the tricky part. I'd look for the complete replacement blower assembly - but if you ARE selling in the spring, just take your chances. Likely won't lastthrough next winter though -

- -

[Peabody]

Yes you can. But in my area the going price for R22 is $100 per pound. Yes, I think the answer is to keep the R22 system running as long as possible. For one thing, it's been announced that 410A is going to be replaced too, but they don't know with what. So delaying the upgrade would give you the best chance of only having to do the upgrade once.

But my compressor is 20 years old already, so it probably won't last all that much longer. I've been told that prospective buyers will just assume they'll have to do the upgrade fairly soon, and adjust the price accordingly.

[micky]

I forget how long my AC lasted, but my fridge is 42 years old and still working fine, and I've treated it badly, runing it with a broken fan next to the condensor, or leaving the door partway open when I go away for the weekend. I've replaced two little fans and maybe the thermostat, but cooling part is just fine.

[TimR]

Uh, no. Er, NO!

Refrigerant doesn't get used up, you don't ever "top it off." The system is sealed.

If you have a leak, that's different. Then you fix the leak. Purge the system, pull a vacuum, replace it all.

[Clare Snyder]

My compressor/evap unit was 40 years old and still working well when a 5 year old "takeout" unit dropped in my lap (neighbor replaced furnace and AC as a set - old AC had been installed by the previous owner 5 years earlier - - ) for a $0.00 replacement cost, and no labour cost (replaced it myself) I was happy to pay my nephew to come and gas it up with some "surplus leftover" undocumented R22 for $100.