Furnace squeaks when it turns off

[Vic Smith]

I never thought of oiling anything on my furnace. That's just not in any maintenance schedule for it. In fact it has no maintenance schedule. Maybe change the filter when it gets dirty. Mine is 15 years old with no powered vents, and the OP never said he had them either, or I missed that. Mine had a squeak about the time I had a HVAC guy in to replace the motherboard, about 5 years ago. Squeaked for some seconds near starting and stopping. Wasn't "horrible," but wasn't good either. Might have been a squeal instead of a squeak. Definitely not a chirp. The HVAC guy fixed it in about 10 seconds, with a wrench. I forgot what he said. Think there's a squirrel cage adjustment. I'm not going to even look at it because mine is probably completely different that the OP's, and the OP didn't give enough info to work with. But I never had a furnace that required oiling any part of it. He's more likely to screw something up by squirting oil than to help anything unless he knows exactly what he's doing.

[DerbyDad03]

re: But I never had a furnace that required oiling any part of it.

Ahh...a possible case of "Just because you never had one doesn't mean that they don't exist." ;-)

My previous furnace, a 1950's era Perfection, had a spring loaded cap on each side of the blower motor.. The instructions suggested the use of a few drops of oil in each hole once a year.

[Stormin Mormon]

That brings back some memories. It was maybe 1991, and night time. The blower on my furnace started to really totally squeal. I pulled a couple bolts, and the blower housing came out. Found a couple of oil holes on the motor. Dripped on some 10w30 which was what I had. Formed a bit of an air lock, so I poked around in the bubble with a bent out paper clip. After a while, it took some oil, and the fan worked a lot quieter. That was before I had a HVAC job, glad I was able to figure it out on my own.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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re: But I never had a furnace that required oiling any part of it.

Ahh...a possible case of "Just because you never had one doesn't mean that they don't exist." ;-)

My previous furnace, a 1950's era Perfection, had a spring loaded cap on each side of the blower motor.. The instructions suggested the use of a few drops of oil in each hole once a year.

[DerbyDad03]

My Perfection had a large door (maybe 2' x 3.5', it's been a while) with a handle that gave you easy access to the blower assembly. It was behind this door that you had access to the filter, blower motor with it's oil inlets, the squirrel cage, the belt, etc. Everything blower related was behind that door and readily accessible.

[Vic Smith]

Not possible, because I never said that, and won't.

Well, maybe we'll see if the OP can find an oil cup. And maybe we'll never know.

[Stormin Mormon]

Unlike the modern furnce, where you can't get to any thing at all.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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My Perfection had a large door (maybe 2' x 3.5', it's been a while) with a handle that gave you easy access to the blower assembly. It was behind this door that you had access to the filter, blower motor with it's oil inlets, the squirrel cage, the belt, etc. Everything blower related was behind that door and readily accessible.

[John Smith]

Agreed! Those were the good ol' days. Then some unsupervised 5-year-old turned the handle, opened the access door, stuck is finger in and was injured. His mother called the local product liability attorney and the rest his history.

[clare]

The "old iron" needed regular oiling, but the OIP said new in 2002 - MOST had gone to direct drive permanently lubricated by that timeframe.

[clare]

On my 7 year old ? "modern" furnace I can still get at everything quite easily. Lnowing what to do with it might be a different story!!

I DID manage to fix the shirp/squeal fron the inductor fan. The web was loose in the cub - I brazed it up over 5 years ago (dealers had no new parts in stock - part was covered by warrantee but not labour)

[clare]

Even my 38 year old one had a safety switch on the cover. Cover open? no fan, unless you stuck a cheater tab into the switch slot.

[DerbyDad03]

No safety switch on the blower door of the Perfection.

In fact, it was even less safe than that...

The instructions included a section on how to heat the house during a power failure. You could manually open the main gas valve and push in a tab that would hold the valve open. No power meant no blower and no high temperature cutoff.

The instructions said to use a 10 minute on - 30 minute off duty cycle, but it was completely manual. Fall asleep and it would stay on for hours. I assume bad things could happen, especially to the heat exchanger with no blower to remove the heat.

When the gas valve went bad, they had to replace it with a modern one that no longer had that "feature". The next winter we had an ice storm and I was without power (and my furnace) for 4 days.

[Stormin Mormon]

And then, someone gave me Derby's furnace with the door!

Hey, I'll give it back, OK?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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From: "DerbyDad03" Newsgroups: alt.home.repair Sent: Monday, January 07, 2013 3:45 PM Subject: Re: Furnace squeaks when it turns off

Agreed! Those were the good ol' days. Then some unsupervised 5-year-old turned the handle, opened the access door, stuck is finger in and was injured. His mother called the local product liability attorney and the rest his history.

[Stormin Mormon]

I have totally no confidence that any lubrication is permanant. Yeah, oilite bronze bearings, and all. But, I don't believe it.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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The "old iron" needed regular oiling, but the OIP said new in 2002 - MOST had gone to direct drive permanently lubricated by that timeframe.

[Stormin Mormon]

I have long believed that you are exceptional. My gut sense, through the usenet group, is that you have a wide variety of skills.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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On my 7 year old ? "modern" furnace I can still get at everything quite easily. Lnowing what to do with it might be a different story!!

I DID manage to fix the shirp/squeal fron the inductor fan. The web was loose in the cub - I brazed it up over 5 years ago (dealers had no new parts in stock - part was covered by warrantee but not labour)

[Stormin Mormon]

Yow, life imitates fiction. In my book "Custodian Plus" I wrote of the gas valve on the steam boiler, and how the custodian was able to "throw the lever" and open the gas valve, during the power cut. Thanks, glad to know it's not totally fiction.

I've heard that 12 vdc will open some "modern" gas valves. 24 VDC (two car batteries in series) might work instead of 24 VAC. Don't know.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

The instructions included a section on how to heat the house during a power failure. You could manually open the main gas valve and push in a tab that would hold the valve open. No power meant no blower and no high temperature cutoff.

The instructions said to use a 10 minute on - 30 minute off duty cycle, but it was completely manual. Fall asleep and it would stay on for hours. I assume bad things could happen, especially to the heat exchanger with no blower to remove the heat.

When the gas valve went bad, they had to replace it with a modern one that no longer had that "feature". The next winter we had an ice storm and I was without power (and my furnace) for 4 days.

[clare]

"permanently lubed" really means "lubed for life" - as in, when the lub runs out, it's done. Some stuff cannot be lubed without total dissassembly. Some things you can puncture and oil - and some things just totally go heck in a handbasket if you get the wrong kind of oil in trying to do right.

[clare]

That's what the old Onan single lunger out in the garage is for. If the power is out long enough to get dangerously cold inside, I go out and connect the Onan and start pulling on the (non recoil) rope starter. I'll get warmed up, even if the genny doesn't start and I don't get the furnace running... The thing is definitely old enough to vote - I doubt it's older than be, but it could be pretty close. I've got a disconnect in the garage that lets me tap into the furnace circuit in the winter and the freezer/fridge i n the summer.

[clare]

Thanks. Wide and long experience, and necessity being the mother of invention, and all that. - a voracious reader with extremely varied interests.

[Stormin Mormon]

Lubed for life, backwards, means it dies when the lube runs out.

I've had to drill, and pump some oil in. At least once, in the last few weeks.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

"permanently lubed" really means "lubed for life" - as in, when the lub runs out, it's done. Some stuff cannot be lubed without total dissassembly. Some things you can puncture and oil - and some things just totally go heck in a handbasket if you get the wrong kind of oil in trying to do right.

[Stormin Mormon]

How old you figure, in dog years?

Don't tell me, you're backfeeding?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

That's what the old Onan single lunger out in the garage is for. If the power is out long enough to get dangerously cold inside, I go out and connect the Onan and start pulling on the (non recoil) rope starter. I'll get warmed up, even if the genny doesn't start and I don't get the furnace running... The thing is definitely old enough to vote - I doubt it's older than be, but it could be pretty close. I've got a disconnect in the garage that lets me tap into the furnace circuit in the winter and the freezer/fridge i n the summer.