On Dec 1, 4:51 pm, wrote:
I just purchased a house which has a Sears 3000 furnace mounted
humidifier. It's mounted to the supply side with the controls on the
return side. There is a motor driving a drum with a foam pad. When I
pulled it apart the foam pad and reservoir was full of mineralization.
Original owners must've never cleaned it (7 or so years) You couldn't
even tell there was a foam pad under there. I cleaned the reservoir
and got a new pad (actually, a paper wicking pad cut to fit since I
could no longer get the original replacement) and it's looking new
again. But when I hooked it back up the motor doesn't seem to be
turning the drum. Without load it seems to turn fine. With it hooked
up to the drum, there's a lot of clicking like a timer but no turning.
Even with the slightest resistance using my finger it clicks. I'm
wondering if the motor is bad due to years of neglect since I
wouldn't be surprised if the drum hasn't turned in years due to
mineralization. It's a SIEBE Appliance Controls 115VAC 1RPM (3W)
motor. One place online says discontinued, but I wonder if there is a
replacement.

Just buy a new Aprilaire unit, which IMO are the best, and be done
with it. They aren't that expensive that it's worth trying to salvage
a screwed up one. Aprilaire uses a water trickling over a media
element which eliminates many of the problems, like fouling and
bacteria with units that use the rotating pad arrangement. I'd also
go with the one that is fan powered (760?) as opposed to the bypass
type.