blower isn't working

Val in RI · 01-13-2010, 05:22 PM

Hi,

I have been without heat for two days here in rhode island and left to sleep in my office. I would appreciate if anyone could help me. Here is what happened:

Sunday: started to hear my blower fan make a squeeking sound, along with a high pitched hum. I figured it just needed to be oiled.

Monday: Went into the basement to oil the fan and it was virtually rumbling. A closer look revealed the noise was coming from the blower motor. I decided it was so late at night, I would turn the heat way down and figure out the problem in the morning.

Tuesday 1a.m. : Awoke to a freezing cold house. The blower motor was shot.

Tuesday afternoon-night: finally freed up the old rusted motor and installed the new one. Though everything was fine until I fired it up and the control board's blinking led (three times) indicated to me that the fan limit switch was open.

Wednesday morning: Installed new switch to no avail. The board is still telling me that the limit switch is open!!

As of now this is what's happening. The unit turns on, burners ignite, blower motor comes on and then... nothing... the fan never comes on!! This is not a difficult system with many moving parts and it is killing me that I cannot fix this on my own!! does anyone have any suggestions??

This is a ten year old Dayton furnace, forced hot air, gas powered. By the way just replaced the control board and pressure switch two months ago.

Thanks in advance for any help- I cant get a plumber until tomorrow night and living in my office kind of sucks!

Marty S. · 01-13-2010, 05:37 PM

Checked to see if the new motor is getting voltage? Wiring hooked up right? Checked the mfd reading on the capacitor?

Val in RI · 01-13-2010, 05:56 PM

hi,

The motor is running so i am sure it is getting juice. The wires are definately hooked up right. Not sure what you mean about the capacitor. The new motor came with one which I hooked up. It was only an oval metal thing with four prongs. I hooked the two wires from the old motor to the prongs across from each other?

Thanks for your reply!!

Marty S. · 01-13-2010, 06:16 PM

Sounds good so far. Does the motor turn in the correct direction? Should be so the concave part of the blower wheel leads the turn.

HvacWiz · 01-13-2010, 06:16 PM

Is the blower going in the right direction?

Val in RI · 01-13-2010, 07:24 PM

How do I tell if the blower is going in the wrong direction? The install seemed pretty simple to me... at the risk of sounding totally stupid is there a way to install it so the blower could go in the wrong direction??? It has a simple shaft a few inchs long that is inserted into I think what is called a squirrel cage fan. Or big round fan. Wow that would be crazy if that was the problem... Please post more details.

Thanks again.

Marty S. · 01-13-2010, 08:09 PM

Look at the blower wheel. One side of the fins are concave and the other is convex. The concave part should lead the rotation so the cupped part catches the air and throws it. Turn the motor on for a second then watch the rotation as it slows down.

I don't think you can put a motor in backwards but many are reversable.

Val in RI · 01-13-2010, 08:39 PM

Thank you soooo much. At first light I am going to check the motor. Appreciate all your help and will let you know what I come up with. Also, do you think there is a chance the control board is gone again or faulty?? I have gone through several of them over the years.

Thanks again

Marty S. · 01-13-2010, 09:27 PM

Never seen a control board give a false limit code but suppose it's possible. Need to check it with a meter to be sure.
If the rotation is correct check that the filter and coil are clean. Also check the vent on the gas meter, snow and ice can make them wack out and have way too high of pressure.

kennzz05 · 01-13-2010, 10:50 PM

you said blower motor comes on than fan never comes on pls elaborate are we speaking of the inducer fan??if the fan (House blower) never comes on than its not running in reverse its just not running so more info would be helpful

Val in RI · 01-14-2010, 03:59 PM

Hi,

Thanks to you guys for responding to my post yesterday!! A plumber finally came today and resolved my problem. Basically there were two problems. First the blower fan wasn't level, which was probably the source of the noise I heard Sunday and likely caused the motor to blow out, and second I installed the motor incorrectly.

I was supposed to have tightened a carter pin on the shaft of the motor, so that it could spin the fan. Without tightening that, the motor was running and not moving the fan. Hey, what can I say, I am a single mom tired of getting taken advantage of by some of these contractors. Anyway, I finally found a great plumber who told me in advance what he got an hour and estimated how long it was going to take. Ended up costing me $150.00 in labor, which I thought was more than fair. He practically took half the thing apart!

Thanks again for your input, finally warm again in Rhode Island!!