Blower on Tempstar Furnace Barely Blowing Air

4617 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by psilva8, Dec 7, 2012

psilva8

Discussion Starter · Dec 6, 2012

Yesterday I came home to realize my house was freezing. I went down to the furnace and pulled the cover off. I manually pressed the safety switch which resulted in an immediately call for heat. The ignitors lit no problem. I realized the blower fan wheel was spinning slow and after hearing my furnace cycle off and on over a million times through the years, noticed that the blower wasn't ramping up enough to blow any air. After about 1 min. the furnace diagnoses a problem and cycles off. So today I call the HVAC company that installed my furnace (9 years ago) to come have a look. My wife was home and the tech told her the AC coil was completely plugged. She called and told me this and told me the tech gave her instructions to give to me. SO I call the tech and told him that yes, my AC coil may be plugged up, and I will clean it, but this isn't the problem. There is something wrong with the blower. He assured me there wasn't anything wrong with it. So I get home from work, remove the coil, clean it gently with a toothbrush and re-installed it. Turn the furnace on....... SAME ISSUE. The blower is not spooling up enough to blow air. All this after I was charged $129 for him just to show up.

Any suggestions of what this could be?

Thanks

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Marty S.

· #2 · Dec 6, 2012

Weak capacitor is a likely suspect.

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psilva8

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 6, 2012

Marty S. said:
Weak capacitor is a likely suspect.

So you would recommend changing the capacitor before trying anything else? I think it's only about 10 bucks or so

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Marty S.

· #4 · Dec 7, 2012

Yes. Slow motor is weak capacitor or motor failing. If you're going to throw a part at it might as well be a cheap one.

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ben's plumbing

· #5 · Dec 7, 2012

yep agree with marty change capacitor...seem to be the problem....

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beenthere

· #6 · Dec 7, 2012

As others said, good chance its just the run capacitor or the fan.

But, come this spring. Use a mild cleaner on that evap coil. You only got the surface dirt off. There is probably just as much dirt in between the fins as you got off the surface. And I'm guessing you actually cleaned the side the air enters from, not just the discharge side of the coil.

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NiNe O

· #7 · Dec 7, 2012

Discharge capacitor before handling.

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psilva8

Discussion Starter · #8 · Dec 7, 2012

beenthere said:
As others said, good chance its just the run capacitor or the fan.

But, come this spring. Use a mild cleaner on that evap coil. You only got the surface dirt off. There is probably just as much dirt in between the fins as you got off the surface. And I'm guessing you actually cleaned the side the air enters from, not just the discharge side of the coil.

Ok gentlemen, it was the capacitor. I had the tech come back and install one.

Also, I cleaned the AC coil with a toothbrush on the side the air enters from. I didn't just clean the surface, the toothbrush enabled me to clean between the fins. I spend an hour doing it and I'm confident I did a good job.

Thanks all

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