ICP Furnace Blower housing removal

AndyCBR

I have what I believe is an off balance blower wheel. Could be the motor but the wheel is getting replaced first. I have the new wheel in hand.

It's an ICP (Tempstar) FBF100F20G1.

The problem I am having is I can't figure out how to get the blower assembly out.

The screws that hold the housing to the 2 tracks are screwed from inside the housing to the track (4 total). If you try to remove the 2 angled tracks they are screwed to the enclosure from the heat exchanger side (10 total).

In short I don't see any way to get the housing out without darn near disassembling the whole furnace. It looks like the blower housing was installed at the beginning of production with all of the other components coming afterwards.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Andy

how

Normally there are just two screws that stop the blower housing from being able to slide out on that track??? There may be other components in the way to also be removed but the blower only slides out one way.

Send photo's

Is the blower deformed? Not attaching properly to the motor shaft? Is the securing collar coming off? Can you feel any paper or plastic inside against the fan fins? Is it the motor that has free play off of center or the fan cage?

AndyCBR

I agree that is what most of the youtube videos show but it looks like this model was not produced to be able to get the housing out very easily.

The unit is 9 yrs old and has slowly developed some vibration and a kind of loose change sound when running. In looking at the unit while running the housing is shaking pretty badly when running. No small coincidence I had to replace the control board about 4 years ago due to solder connections on the board going bad.

Could it be just a dirty wheel? I guess. Could it be the motor bearings? I guess. Since the blower wheel was $100 shipped and I figured it was the problem that was my first choice of action.

Anyway. Here are 2 pics. As you can see the screws that hold the blower to the angle supports are from the backside.

I'm stumped.

ETA: After looking closer at the pics (I jammed my phone up in there) it does look like there may be the head of a screw up there I didn't see before. Gonna go look now.

how

Those photos just show a two part track system where 1/2 of it slides on the other 1/2. Some have a panel that locks the cage in place while others have one or two sheet metal screws into the track that should be easily accessable from the front of the fan compartment..
More photos.

AndyCBR

Good news: I figured it out. What I thought were screws through one piece of angle were in fact the 2 piece track system. Took the 2 screws out on the face of the furnace and she slid right out. In my defense I am on my hands and knees and it didn't look like 2 pieces before.

Bad news: Its not the blower wheel. Motor has about 1/4" of axial play when you pull on the shaft and a a few mm of runout if you put pressure on the shaft.

Will put back together for heat this weekend and get a blower motor Monday.

Thanks,
Andy

ben's plumbing

yep you figured it out only 2-screws hold blower in ....

COLDIRON

Ditto what Ben said, when I put them back in I give a quick spray of WD40 on the tracks so if it ever fails again I can unscrew it easy and slide it out without killing myself especially in attics.

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