payne furnace inducer motor

minime_moomey · 02-18-2010, 07:45 AM

Hello all, I am new here officially, but after searching these forums for the last two days, I feel as though I know you all already! LOL. Not to mention, you all deserve teaching degrees with the amount of info I have learned about my furnace from you in the last two days. So here is the situation:

I have a Payne furnace. Ive been getting code 31 (pressure switch issues). From what I have learned on here, I have been able to deduce it is the inducer motor. When restarting the furnace, it would kick on for the 90 second trial and then shut off. I would hear a slight "squeal" behind the inducer fan and noticed that it "tried" to rotate, but wouldnt. At one point I spun it by hand, it caught, and the furnace ran for about an hour or so (although it was making some extra noise from that fan). It then kicked back off, and wont even jump start by turning that fan. I priced inducer motors this morning

they are expensive. Does it sound like I need a brand new motor or is there a chance that it can be manipulated into working? Either way, is it something I can take off on my own or is this going to take a "professional" fix? I really want to prove my wife wrong on this one, so any help is GREATLY appreciated.

The part number in question hc21z123a

Let me know if you need any more info. Thanks!

yuri · 02-18-2010, 06:51 PM

Post the model # of the furnace and serial # and a pic of the inducer motor and furnace with doors off.

minime_moomey · 02-18-2010, 07:37 PM

Model# pgm8aa060155
Serial#2103A25998

Sorry, this would have been helpful earlier! The cold must be getting to my brain.

yuri · 02-18-2010, 07:48 PM

Payne/Carrier parts are EXPENSIVE and that unit needs replacing, cannot be manipulated. Not easy to replace as you need to replace the motor AND the wheel in the fan. The wheel bends VERY easily and gets off balance. I would recommend a Payne or Carrier or Bryant (Carrier owns all 3 of them)dealer as that way if it vibrates/gets noisy etc you have a warranty and they have to make it work. I have changed a couple dozen of them and it is not that easy. First time is always the worst. Get them to clean and show you the flame sensor. Needs cleaning once a year. Is it damp in the furnace area? looks rusty to me. Dampness will shorten the life of the circuit board etc so a de-humidifier is recommended.

**beenthere** · 02-18-2010, 09:31 PM

PITA inducer.

If your brave. And don't mind the wife saying I told you so if you damage the new wheel. Try it.

yuri · 02-18-2010, 09:37 PM

PITA furnace. All those 34" Rheems and Carriers are a "Payne" to work on.

LOL. Takes 2-3 hrs to change a fan motor on a Rheem high, by the time you disconnect all the plumbing etc and fix the leaks later.

minime_moomey · 02-19-2010, 06:39 AM

Thanks for the help guys. Time to bite the bullet and get one ordered.

plummen · 02-19-2010, 10:57 PM

did you pull the housing off and check for birds trapped in there? i think my record is 5-6 in one inducer motor

minime_moomey · 02-20-2010, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plummen

did you pull the housing off and check for birds trapped in there? i think my record is 5-6 in one inducer motor

5-6 in ONE?!?! LOL. That is impressive. Now Im going to ask a question in fear of getting flamed, but what do you mean by the "housing"? Are you talking like the main front part that the inducer motor is connected to or something else? I have time to mess with it today, so I can definately give it a shot.

plummen · 02-20-2010, 01:25 PM

the housing unbolts from front of furnace and flue pipe.Itscommon around here for birds to sit on top of open chimneys to warm up,but sometimes the flue gas basically knocks them out causing them to drop into chimney.
Anyway sometimes they wake up in bottem of chimney and get disoriented trying to get out and end in the inducer motor.

worst thing i ever saw was a full size duck stuck in a chimney of a house by elkhorn river,went to pull the single wall pipe out of the side of brick chimney and came face to face with charbroiled face of duck!

scared the hell out of me to say the least!

yuri · 02-20-2010, 01:29 PM

I had a red squirrel do a kamikaze routine in a 8" clay tile lined chimney. Down the chimney into the vent pipe. Had to pull it out with needle nose pliers, not fun!

Marty S. · 02-20-2010, 01:35 PM

Think my favorite one was a squirrel. Husband started laughing because his wife fed the rodents and this one was so fat it got stuck in a 4" flue. Inducer ran just fine but the pressure switch sure wouldn't close.

yuri · 02-20-2010, 01:46 PM

Had a guy complain or poor airflow/furnace overheating. Buddy was not to impressed when I handed him a $95 bill to remove the plastic wrapper from his spankin new air filter. Don't imagine he told his wife the "truth".

plummen · 02-20-2010, 01:52 PM

now thats funny,i dont care who ya is!