In article ,
Bob Engelhardt wrote:
I'm assuming that I'm SOL - that the winding is shorted - but what do I
know. Am I right, or is there something else that could be wrong? And
fixable?

As others have already said, you are overloading it by running it wode
open and you need some restriction. This is apparently a common way for
homeowners to kill furnace fans, by "opening up" the ductwork so it can
"do less work" - actually making it do more work, overloading it, and
burning it out. If you have an ammeter, you can see the load go down as
you restrict the airflow.

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Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by