I have replaced the blower motor on my Trane Heat Pump system 4 times
in as many years. This was a new home system and the first motor went
out about 6 months after install. The technician said it was a fluke
and since it was under warranty, I was not very concerned. A little
over a year latter, it went out again. I called the original
installation company and asked why this was happening. They said it
was probably due to a dirty air filter. I assured them that this was
not the case as the filters are changed regularly. Since now the unit
was out of warranty, it would cost me $500 to replace the motor. I
replaced it myself with a slightly more powerful motor (from ½ to ¾
horse) and that motor lasted almost 2 years. Well now I'm on my 4th
motor. The air coming from the registers is very loud; much louder
than anyone else's home I've been in. I don't know if this is
related or not. What could be going on here? Thanks for any help.

wrote:

I have replaced the blower motor on my Trane Heat Pump system 4 times
in as many years. This was a new home system and the first motor went
out about 6 months after install. The technician said it was a fluke
and since it was under warranty, I was not very concerned. A little
over a year latter, it went out again. I called the original
installation company and asked why this was happening. They said it
was probably due to a dirty air filter. I assured them that this was
not the case as the filters are changed regularly. Since now the unit
was out of warranty, it would cost me $500 to replace the motor. I
replaced it myself with a slightly more powerful motor (from ½ to ¾
horse) and that motor lasted almost 2 years. Well now I'm on my 4th
motor. The air coming from the registers is very loud; much louder
than anyone else's home I've been in. I don't know if this is
related or not. What could be going on here? Thanks for any help.

What's the failure mode? Do they burn out? Bearings freeze up?

Blower motors should last 10's of years IMHO.

A three-quarter-horse motor seems awfully large for a blower.
Maybe you should be using a smaller, rather than larger, motor --
one that wouldn't use as much energy and therefore wouldn't get as hot.

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Im no hvac pro but ive heard improper duct sizing, to small, can stress
a blower. It would come under an improper install issue, duct sizing.
Get someone else out but first call trane for advise. To low a voltage
is bad for AC motors,

They burn out.

I assume the venting is adequate as this is the factory set-up. It is
not the cap as this has been replaced each time the motor had been
replaced (and a buddy that is an electrical engineer tested it).

wrote in message
ups.com...
Sorry, to answer the last part of the question, I think is was the
windings that burnt as the shaft spins freely and the motor had that
unmistakable fried wire smell.


Can you safely check the ac voltage to the motor while it's running? Is it
getting at least 110 V? IF it's lower while running then it's being loaded
down. Checking the amps would be useful too.

wrote:

They burn out.

Then they must be getting too hot (unless there's a design flaw
in the motor, which seems unlikely, especially since you've tried
more than one model). That can be because they're overloaded, or
because they're getting too high a voltage (e.g. due to power surges),
or because they're not getting adequate ventilation. I doubt the
first, especially since you said you upsized. When you replaced the
motor, did you also replace the capacitor? You should have. I'm not
familiar enough with the Trane to know about how the motor is
ventilated, but upsizing the motor could have worsened the effects
of any shortcomings there.


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I will try this. It is a 220V system so I assume you mean getting at
least 210V. But assuming the voltage is OK, would the duct sizing (too
small) be a likley culprit?

Low air flow is a common cause of blower motor failure. Having talked
to many motor manufacturers at seminars, all state heat is the primary
cause of failure. With 240 volt system, I assume you have a heat pump.

What is making your motor run hot? If the motor does not have enough
air flow to cool it, it will overheat. Primary reasons of low air flow
are restrictive air filter (1" pleated or 1" washable electrostatic),
dirty air filter, undersized air filter, undersized duct system,
registers closed off in rooms you are not using, replacing system with
larger system without increasing (replacing) duct system, undersized
indoor unit, reusing indoor unit when replacing outdoor unit.

When you replaced the system, did they do a manual J load calculation,
or did they use the dreaded 500 sq ft. to the ton rule? Did they
measure the air flow from the system with an instrument more accurate
than the hand (handometer)? Did they replace the indoor unit? Did
they install a new air filter system (They can be restrictive, beware)
Did they install new ornamental grilles, especially wood ones (They can
be restrictive, beware). Did they put in a bigger system for any
reason?

Answers to these questions can help with diagnosis.

One other thing, did anyone measure the amps on the new motor(s) when
they were replaced to see if they were using more power than they were
rated for?

Stretch

Buy new 1/2hp motor, always replace ran cap. ( ~$70 )

Measure ESP. And post it here.
Plus your speed settings a
Cooling - high/med/low ?
Heating - high/med/low ?

A sign your ducts being undersized is the cause of your issues is the
noise level you note. Its going to happen again and again till you
upgrade or find the cause. The original installer is to blame if it is
duct sizing. Your larger blower will likely fail sooner.

On 26 Mar 2006 08:57:19 -0800, "
wrote:

I have replaced the blower motor on my Trane Heat Pump system 4 times
in as many years. This was a new home system and the first motor went
out about 6 months after install. The air coming from the registers is very loud; much louder
than anyone else's home I've been in. I don't know if this is
related or not. What could be going on here? Thanks for any help.

There should be a resident, or nearby Mr Trane that the dealer can
call out. He came with some strange and wonderful test equipment that
the dealer didnt have. My 16i has a 10 year parts/labor warranty. We
really used it.
I experienced similar loud, not properly running problem upon
installation. Took some time, but after replacing the circuit board
and the motor, they found out it was the connecting cable. This is
particularly important if you have a variable speed air
handler/system. The blower was actually running faster than called
for for the unit, in any mode of operation
You can go here and post your question:
http://www.hvacware.com/user-cgi/hvaconfig.pl
Go in with the model, etc for the outdoor unit, the air handler and
the thermostat, so they won't have to ask. I found them very helpful.
You may also want to go to Trane's site and see if you can download
the installation instructions for all of those pieces of equipment.
I found all sorts of goodies in my quest to help Trane fix it.

Thanks to all for your feedback. You all have been a great help. To
answer or clear up some of the questions for you all, this was a new
house we had bulit, so as far as the method used to determine duct
size, I really have no idea. I did not install nor did a Buddy install
the system. It was installed by one of the bigger HVAC contractors in
the Indiaianpolis area. I have had dealings with this company before
and they do not own up to the fact that there is a design porblem. All
of the registers are open and we never close any of them off. I will
have my electrical engineering buddy come over and test voltage and amp
issues. If any of you are HVAC tech's, what questions should I ask
before have have another company check out my problems? My gut tells
me that it is a duct sizing issue. All of the failures have been in
the winter, while in heat pump mode. The fan is always set to Auto. I
have never ran the fan continuously.

Trane would be your best call and should get you the answer free of
charge.

Just a guess and personal observation...

220 V blower motor..

Hooked up to 110 volt circuit. (or to just 1 leg of 220 V circuit).

Had a well pump like that one time...Well Pump ran fine ... but it
would have killed the motor if we hadn't "caught" the problem.

Well I had what I believe to be a "qualified, licensed technician"
go over the system and he could not find a problem. The voltage
checked out OK, AMP draw checked out OK, CFM (tested with some sort of
electronic sensor) tested out OK. He was puzzled to why the system
keeps going through motors. He said the bigger (1/2 to ¾ horse)
motor was pulling less AMP's than the systems max, so he doesn't
feel this is a problem. It was not a dirt problem. It was not a
restrictive air problem (at least with the filter).

Question for Roy: Did Mr. Trane test CFM differently and is there a
more through test for the duct sizing issue? And what was the final
diagnosis of your problem?

On 29 Mar 2006 07:36:31 -0800, "
wrote:

Question for Roy: Did Mr. Trane test CFM differently and is there a
more through test for the duct sizing issue? And what was the final
diagnosis of your problem?

Duct sizing can be an issue, but for now I am letting it go to see how
it works out. What he had was better equipment to test out what the
elctronic circuits were seeing/doing, as I understand it. But, it was
still a real problem to trouble shoot, because it appeared to go away
(at least it was quiet, though it was still not operating properly)
during the first summer. Also, there was one jumper out of place
because the only accurate instructions for connecting in this
instance were in the pamphlet for installing the outside unit.
(Whenever I have anyone installing anything in my home, I have them
give me every piece of paper that comes with it.)
On my 16i, which is the only Trane system I have any knowledge on, if
one removed the side covers on the air handler one could get RPM by
watching the blinking green light (Since it is a fault light, were I
building the unit, it would be readable with covers in place). It was
obvious the unit was way overspeed, regardless of the dip switch
settings. After several attempts, it turned out that the cable
connecting the circuit board and the blower/thermostat had a bad lead
in it. Cable replaced. Problem went away.
Sort of. In the summer with the A/C in use, one cannot tell the sytem
is even operating. In the winter the sytem is set to off at night.
So in the morning it slowly ramps up as it attempts to reach the
desired temp by the desired time. If it gets behind, it blows like
hell and is a bit noisy, but still not as noisy as it was when running
at max speed before it was fixed. (I also have hot water baseboard
heat, and if there is a big differencebetween inside actual/desired,
the outside temp is below freezing, or not forecast to rise above 40,
I use it to assist, or to take over the entire load. Of interest, I
burned 50 gallons of oil from fill in October to fill on Feb, here in
VA, and my electric bill went down a bit. from last year)
If you want to labor through all that was discussed, the discussion
is he
http://www.hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthr...threadid=88449
along with the previous discussion that led up to it:
http://HVAC-Talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?threadid=64042
I found a great bunch of guys here. One even called my from TX to
discuss it.