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#1
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
I just went to Grainger and brought my whole assembly there with me.
We took the motor off the wheel (took a little convincing, but came off) and the guy looked up the replacement. My original is a 1/2 hp GE unit, the replacement he found was a Dayton 1/2 hp same rpm (can't remember now), same shaft, the only difference is the replacement is 3 speed, the original is 4 speed. I had the high and low connected to what probably is cooling and heating. I noted down all the connections when I removed the original and will hook up the new one the same way. Total cost with the new capacitor: $69.20. If this works when I install after work tonight, I will have saved a lot of money. Thanks to all for encouraging me to replace. My hesitation was due to lack of knoweledge of where to get the replacement. Grainger seems pretty good for that. Thanks! Vladimir |
#2
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
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#3
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
Mark, you mean Radio Smack has inductive current meters? If so, how do
I go about checking the motor? Get it up to full speed and see if it draws the max rated? Please explain... Thanks, Vladimir |
#6
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
You're right. I called them and said what's the alternative to the new
furnace? They said well, you'll be throwing good money after the bad, but you can replace the blower motor. We'd have to sell you the wheel as well as those things usually stick to the shaft so much they can't be removed, and we'll have to inspect the heat exchanger and if we find cracks we are obliged by law to shut off the heat (you can re-start at your own risk), yada, yada, yada... The more he talked the more I was seeing through the thin veil of wanting to sell me the furnace. I may still need a furnace, mine is 18 years old and may very well be on its last leg, but I want to be able to make the decision calmly, not under pressure of "no-heat in the dead of winter". So, if this fix will see me through this heating season, it will have paid for itself. BTW, what are the risks of running the furnace with a damaged heat exchanger? From what I read, the CO is not that much of an issue since the heat exchanger is under positive pressure from the blower and the flue gasses just will not escape into the distribution air. Am I wrong on this? I understand there is no real good way to check the heat exchanger, but are there signs of a HUGE problem? Like if I look inside and see orange flames or something like that. I don't, BTW, I see nice blue flames that look as they should. Thanks, guys! Vladimir |
#7
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
Get a Co alarm anyway one with digital read out, ones I have seen hold
any peak reading in memory. Co is bad and any reading relating to the furnace heat exchanger means replace it as they only get worse. Chimney issues can cause high Co readings also, but you don`t indicate any issue. Get qualified bids and a written load calc , I will bet yours is probably 80% efficient and 94%+ is the way to go,not 80% your heating guy just wants an install. Ive had qualified bids of 29- 3200 for 70000 btu 94.5% VS DC units with good thermostat, plus 10 yr warranty. 2800 for an 80% sounds a bit off, but my bids were in the off season, not now when all are busy. |
#8
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
wrote So, if this fix will see me through this heating season, it will have paid for itself. More power to ya. Then you can get 3 or 4 quotes from reputable companies in the off-season so you aren't pressured as much. Do yourself a favor and don't try to do it during the peak cooling days of the summer. BTW, what are the risks of running the furnace with a damaged heat exchanger? From what I read, the CO is not that much of an issue since the heat exchanger is under positive pressure from the blower and the flue gasses just will not escape into the distribution air. Am I wrong on this? I understand there is no real good way to check the heat exchanger, but are there signs of a HUGE problem? Like if I look inside and see orange flames or something like that. I don't, BTW, I see nice blue flames that look as they should. Keep a couple CO detectors up and "running" just in case...... |
#9
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
wrote in message oups.com... :I just went to Grainger and brought my whole assembly there with me. : We took the motor off the wheel (took a little convincing, but came : off) and the guy looked up the replacement. My original is a 1/2 hp GE : unit, the replacement he found was a Dayton 1/2 hp same rpm (can't : remember now), same shaft, the only difference is the replacement is 3 : speed, the original is 4 speed. I had the high and low connected to : what probably is cooling and heating. I noted down all the connections : when I removed the original and will hook up the new one the same way. : Total cost with the new capacitor: $69.20. If this works when I : install after work tonight, I will have saved a lot of money. Thanks to : all for encouraging me to replace. My hesitation was due to lack of : knoweledge of where to get the replacement. Grainger seems pretty good : for that. : : Thanks! : Vladimir : It's so great when a plan comes together, isn't it? A little common sense, some intelligence and a smattering of experience somewhere can save a diy-er lots of bread. Now, take the money you saved, put half in the bank, and blow the rest on something nice for yourself; you deserve it, IMO. Glad you posted back. Pop |
#11
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
CJT wrote:
Mark wrote: wrote: I just went to Grainger and brought my whole assembly there with me. We took the motor off the wheel (took a little convincing, but came off) and the guy looked up the replacement. My original is a 1/2 hp GE unit, the replacement he found was a Dayton 1/2 hp same rpm (can't remember now), same shaft, the only difference is the replacement is 3 speed, the original is 4 speed. I had the high and low connected to what probably is cooling and heating. I noted down all the connections when I removed the original and will hook up the new one the same way. Total cost with the new capacitor: $69.20. If this works when I install after work tonight, I will have saved a lot of money. Thanks to all for encouraging me to replace. My hesitation was due to lack of knoweledge of where to get the replacement. Grainger seems pretty good for that. Thanks! Vladimir great!!!! if you feel like buying yourself a present with all that money you saved....... go to Radio Shack and buy a clamp on current meter and you can easily check the current draw of your new motor and make sure it is hooked up correctly... Mark Better still, you can get a serviceable one at Harbor Freight for probably under 20 bucks (they were on sale for $12 a few weeks ago). I checked the one I bought against an RMS in-circuit ammeter, and it seems fine. Actually they are %9.95 on sale here at Harbor Freight, digital read out. A clamp meter has two jaws that go together forming a hole. What you do ,Vladimir, is open the jaws so you can move one of the hot wire into the hole and then release the jaw. The meter will show the amps in that wire when the motor is running. |
#12
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
"Pop" wrote in message Now, take the money you saved, put half in the bank, and blow the rest on something nice for yourself; you deserve it, IMO. Poor advice. Take the money you save and buy a case of beer for everyone that helped you with this project. We'll be even more willing to help in the future. -- Ed http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/ |
#13
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
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#14
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message t... "Pop" wrote in message Now, take the money you saved, put half in the bank, and blow the rest on something nice for yourself; you deserve it, IMO. Poor advice. Take the money you save and buy a case of beer for everyone that helped you with this project. We'll be even more willing to help in the future. I like Sam Adams Winter Lagar.... ;-] |
#15
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
George E. Cawthon wrote:
wrote: You're right. I called them and said what's the alternative to the new furnace? They said well, you'll be throwing good money after the bad, but you can replace the blower motor. We'd have to sell you the wheel as well as those things usually stick to the shaft so much they can't be removed, and we'll have to inspect the heat exchanger and if we find cracks we are obliged by law to shut off the heat (you can re-start at your own risk), yada, yada, yada... The more he talked the more I was seeing through the thin veil of wanting to sell me the furnace. I may still need a furnace, mine is 18 years old and may very well be on its last leg, but I want to be able to make the decision calmly, not under pressure of "no-heat in the dead of winter". So, if this fix will see me through this heating season, it will have paid for itself. BTW, what are the risks of running the furnace with a damaged heat exchanger? From what I read, the CO is not that much of an issue since the heat exchanger is under positive pressure from the blower and the flue gasses just will not escape into the distribution air. Am I wrong on this? I understand there is no real good way to check the heat exchanger, but are there signs of a HUGE problem? Like if I look inside and see orange flames or something like that. I don't, BTW, I see nice blue flames that look as they should. Thanks, guys! Vladimir Uh, you are forgetting something about the furnace construction. The burn areas is just a short distance from the filter housing which is often just part of the cold air return duct and is often very leaky. Assume that you have a CO problem. What warrants that assumption? The positive pressure may well push most of the CO into areas where it is sucked up the flue, but some may go outside the furnace sheet metal move up 2-3 feet and get sucked into the air duct. -- The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to minimize spam. Our true address is of the form . |
#16
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
RP wrote:
wrote: You're right. I called them and said what's the alternative to the new furnace? They said well, you'll be throwing good money after the bad, but you can replace the blower motor. We'd have to sell you the wheel as well as those things usually stick to the shaft so much they can't be removed, and we'll have to inspect the heat exchanger and if we find cracks we are obliged by law to shut off the heat (you can re-start at your own risk), yada, yada, yada... The more he talked the more I was seeing through the thin veil of wanting to sell me the furnace. I may still need a furnace, mine is 18 years old and may very well be on its last leg, but I want to be able to make the decision calmly, not under pressure of "no-heat in the dead of winter". So, if this fix will see me through this heating season, it will have paid for itself. BTW, what are the risks of running the furnace with a damaged heat exchanger? From what I read, the CO is not that much of an issue since the heat exchanger is under positive pressure from the blower and the flue gasses just will not escape into the distribution air. Am I wrong on this? The other real danger is a house burned to the ground. Because the hx is under positive pressure a crack tends to cause the flames to roll-out. Depending upon safeties present or not present, and assuming that they are well placed and not stuck, you may or may not have concerns. It's time to think about replacing. Not only are the newer furnaces more efficient they are much safer. HTH. Wouldn't inspecting the furnace reveal whether that is in fact an issue? Or are you assuming it's broken just because it's more than a decade old? hvacrmedic I understand there is no real good way to check the heat exchanger, but are there signs of a HUGE problem? Like if I look inside and see orange flames or something like that. I don't, BTW, I see nice blue flames that look as they should. Thanks, guys! Vladimir -- The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to minimize spam. Our true address is of the form . |
#17
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
CJT wrote: RP wrote: wrote: You're right. I called them and said what's the alternative to the new furnace? They said well, you'll be throwing good money after the bad, but you can replace the blower motor. We'd have to sell you the wheel as well as those things usually stick to the shaft so much they can't be removed, and we'll have to inspect the heat exchanger and if we find cracks we are obliged by law to shut off the heat (you can re-start at your own risk), yada, yada, yada... The more he talked the more I was seeing through the thin veil of wanting to sell me the furnace. I may still need a furnace, mine is 18 years old and may very well be on its last leg, but I want to be able to make the decision calmly, not under pressure of "no-heat in the dead of winter". So, if this fix will see me through this heating season, it will have paid for itself. BTW, what are the risks of running the furnace with a damaged heat exchanger? From what I read, the CO is not that much of an issue since the heat exchanger is under positive pressure from the blower and the flue gasses just will not escape into the distribution air. Am I wrong on this? The other real danger is a house burned to the ground. Because the hx is under positive pressure a crack tends to cause the flames to roll-out. Depending upon safeties present or not present, and assuming that they are well placed and not stuck, you may or may not have concerns. It's time to think about replacing. Not only are the newer furnaces more efficient they are much safer. HTH. Wouldn't inspecting the furnace reveal whether that is in fact an issue? Not necessarily. Every year that goes by the heat exchanger becomes more and more spent. When it cracks an inspection will reveal the crack, when performed properly. Before it cracks there is no ****ing crack to be revealed. Elementary Watson. Or are you assuming it's broken just because it's more than a decade old? Seems your the only one assuming. hvacrmedic hvacrmedic I understand there is no real good way to check the heat exchanger, but are there signs of a HUGE problem? Like if I look inside and see orange flames or something like that. I don't, BTW, I see nice blue flames that look as they should. Thanks, guys! Vladimir |
#18
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
CJT wrote:
George E. Cawthon wrote: wrote: You're right. I called them and said what's the alternative to the new furnace? They said well, you'll be throwing good money after the bad, but you can replace the blower motor. We'd have to sell you the wheel as well as those things usually stick to the shaft so much they can't be removed, and we'll have to inspect the heat exchanger and if we find cracks we are obliged by law to shut off the heat (you can re-start at your own risk), yada, yada, yada... The more he talked the more I was seeing through the thin veil of wanting to sell me the furnace. I may still need a furnace, mine is 18 years old and may very well be on its last leg, but I want to be able to make the decision calmly, not under pressure of "no-heat in the dead of winter". So, if this fix will see me through this heating season, it will have paid for itself. BTW, what are the risks of running the furnace with a damaged heat exchanger? From what I read, the CO is not that much of an issue since the heat exchanger is under positive pressure from the blower and the flue gasses just will not escape into the distribution air. Am I wrong on this? I understand there is no real good way to check the heat exchanger, but are there signs of a HUGE problem? Like if I look inside and see orange flames or something like that. I don't, BTW, I see nice blue flames that look as they should. Thanks, guys! Vladimir Uh, you are forgetting something about the furnace construction. The burn areas is just a short distance from the filter housing which is often just part of the cold air return duct and is often very leaky. Assume that you have a CO problem. What warrants that assumption? Maybe it was poorly worded, it is an if-then statement. It wasn't meant to indicate that he really had a CO problem. The positive pressure may well push most of the CO into areas where it is sucked up the flue, but some may go outside the furnace sheet metal move up 2-3 feet and get sucked into the air duct. |
#19
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:39:31 GMT, "George E. Cawthon"
wrote: Actually they are %9.95 on sale here at Harbor Freight, digital read out. A clamp meter has two jaws that go together forming a hole. What you do ,Vladimir, is open the jaws so you can move one of the hot wire into the hole and then release the jaw. The meter will show the amps in that wire when the motor is running. l bought, maybe at Harbor Frieght, an attachment clamp-on that works with a multimeter, plugs into the + and - and lets me use the 2V AC scale to measure AC amps. Unfortunately my cheap meters didn't have a 2V AC scale (more like 100 and 200 volts) But I dug out a better meter that had one. Then I noticed that with that scale, at the full 2V, the clamp on would be indicating 1000amps or was it 100 and the lowest amount I could possibly measure was to one decimal place: 0.3 amps , .0.4 amps, etc. So I wouldn't be able to use it to measure the current in the Hot Surface Ignitor of my friend's oven. Then I noticed that that particular circuit was easy to open at the wire nut, and I could just use the AC current scales on the pretty good meter, and that's what I plan to do. So I wouldn't recommend the accessories that plug into a regular meter. Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also. |
#21
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
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#22
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:48:06 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote: "Pop" wrote in message Now, take the money you saved, put half in the bank, and blow the rest on something nice for yourself; you deserve it, IMO. Poor advice. Take the money you save and buy a case of beer for everyone that helped you with this project. We'll be even more willing to help in the future. Hey, I like that idea..... Life without beer is not life !!! I'll be the first to get the start of which brand everyone wants. This website has almost every beer in the world listed, including pictures... http://www.mylifeisbeer.com And this site has the official Christmas Beer advent calendar,,, Pretty cool !!! http://www.thebrewsite.com By the time you finish looking at these sites you will be so thirsty you will REQUIRE a beer. Stock up in advance !!!!! I wont be fussy, Just email me a Budweiser.... The old standby, and it always satisfies me !!! Mark |
#23
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
True value of advice revealed:
.... : Before it cracks there is no ****ing crack to be : revealed. Elementary Watson. .... |
#24
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
....
: : Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let : me know if you have posted also. Not without checking the specs and knowing whether it's right for the job first, anyways. I do that and it always works out fine. Funny, huh? |
#25
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 10:11:48 -0500, "Pop"
wrote: ... : : Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let : me know if you have posted also. Not without checking the specs and knowing whether it's right for the job first, anyways. I do that and it always works out fine. Funny, huh? I didn't have a first job. I bought it when it was on sale and cheap. That almost always works out for me, and when it doesn't, I can take it. Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also. |
#26
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Blower motor died on a 18 year old Furnace: Update.
Some of us actually live near you and want to know the name of the
furnace you called so we know who not to call... |
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