Was at Mom's house today and noticed that her furnace fan makes a kind of vibrating/humming noise the first few seconds as it starts up. It's a Gas furnace (Trane) and a 10 year old house.
Recently I had to replace the blower motor in my 22 year old Trane and cleaned everything. When I start my fan, there's an initial buzzing from the transformer and the fan comes on right away. The transformer buzzing gets quieter after 2 seconds.
I know that blower motors may need oil from time to time, but then if it's in need of lube, why does it make a noise only on start? After it gets spinning I only hear air blowing.
The noise from Mom's sounds "wobbly", very much like a fan that isn't aligned or attached right but then evens out from centrifugal force as the rpm's increase.
Could the blower have come a bit loose from the frame or the frame from the housing? I won't be back there for a few days but wanted to get some ideas on what to look for if possible. Or could dust just be gumming up the works and making the motor work harder. I'm not sure if it's ever been cleaned.
Also, the labored startup of the fan seems to last a little longer each time, like whatever is going wrong is getting worse.