[salganam]

I have water in the system, which is causing problems

problems: furnace will not fire, but induction motor is running all the time. I need to stop turn power off to the furnace wait 30 sec about the turn back on furnace starts and heats the house. once the temp is reached the fire goes out but the induction motor keeps running need reset for it to start again. I have noticed that if I drain the condensate tank the furnace will cycle heat on and off but air induction motor never stops, after about 12 hours I need to drain the water for furnace to work any answers

 

[yuri]

the relay for the inducer is sticking on and you need a new circuit board. board needs to see an open pressure switch or it will not fire so draining the trap is not the issue. try cozyparts.com for the board but BEWARE one of those boards is obsolete (White Rodgers board) and replaced by a very complicated difficult retrofit kit ( with newer Honeywell board and igniter etc) so I would recommend calling an experienced Lennox tech rather than DIYing.

 

[AnnieLou]

Our just over five year Lennox G61 MPV furnace has a high pitched shrill whistle right before it starts. Called the repair guy and he said the inducer motor is perhaps the problem.. He said he can feel air out of the bottom of the inducer and also rusty colored stuff is underneath. Said new motor would be around 300 plus labor but after I checked with Lennox, I found out our furnace is warranted for parts for 10 years. So going to have them replace it. But what's to stop it doing this over and over. Maybe it wasn't installed right??? The repair guy said it might be because of condensation????? Am upset that we are having to replace parts on this new of a furnace but glad the parts are under warranty. sorry for the long post. I have pictures but not sure if we can post pictures on here. I'm new today.

 

[yuri]

You can post pics I believe and if not just put them on Imageshack and post the links here as I would really like to see them. I sold thousands of them and have never had one of them leak that way. The gasket behind the inducer may shrink and a few drops of water leak occasionally but it usually seals itself and possibly the leak is somewhere else and running down there. It is common where the installers don't always glue the plug properly on the exhaust fitting for the unusued side of where it exhausts (look directly opposite where the exhaust pipe attaches). THey don't spin it with the glue on and sometimes it doesn't seal but that can be fixed by adding more glue or silicone. Do you run the fan continuosly for circulation. There are 2 small holes under the inducer fan where 2 prongs from the heat exchanger go thru the metal and a tiny bit of air blows thru there. Sometimes I cover them with silver foil tape.

 

[AnnieLou]

The repair guy (the ones that installed the furnace) said that the rusty stuff underneath the inducer is coming from inside of it. He says moisture is probably causing the rust and decay of the fan and then it drops out of the hole in the bottom where he can feel air coming out. Is the gasket you mention replaced when they replace the inducer motor. Should I keep the inducer motor they take off just in case it wasn't it. I don't know what to do. I don't have a lot of confidence in these people since they didn't know about our furnace parts warrantied for 10 years and would have charged me if I hadn't done all the research. And they were the ones who sold it to us. I'll try to post pics. Thanks.

I posted three pictures of the crude under the inducer motor in the photo area on this site under "Annie Lou'w G61 Furnace".

 

[how]

I don't know how someone could sell you a furnace and not know about it's warrante.
I think you know everything you need to know about this "repair" guy.

 

[AnnieLou]

Yes, I don't have confidence in these people but I'm stuck with having them replace the inducer. After talking to them and having them say I didn't know what I was talking about, I asked them to call Lennox. It took several calls for them to get the correct information from Lennox and when they did they just went ahead and ordered a new inducer from Atlanta. Said they will have it in a few days and then they'll come and install it. They didn't admit to me they had found out our furnace parts were covered until after they had ordered it. So guess we are stuck with them doing the labor, which we will be paying them for.

 

[yuri]

the guy is a complete idiot.:furious: the inducer body is made from plastic so how can it rust? same with the wheel inside. too bad you cannot find someone competent, how they heck are they going to fix it when a complicated problem occurs.:wink:

it comes with a new gasket and yes I would watch him or get hubby too and make sure he scrapes the old one off and puts the new gasket on as some guys are lazy and try reuse the old one. he has to take the part with him to give back to Lennox. cannot find those pics. click on GO Advanced - manage attachments- upload your pics or post them on a photo sharing site like Imageshack and put the links in a reply post to us. chances are there is nothing we can do even if we see them as you need to get someone competent to find the leak anyway.

 

[ben's plumbing]

you beat me on this yuri ..my thougths exactly...ben sr...never seen plastic rust..

 

[yuri]

I know, it is real sad with the pathetic lot of characters we get coming into this trade these days. Fortuantely I can look after my relatives stuff and where the rest of the world is going to find a good tech is beyond me. I honestly cannot recommend any company in my city knowing who works for them.:wink:

 

[AnnieLou]

Thanks, Yuri. If you go to the top of this page and click on "Photos" mine should come up. There are three photos. If you click on one all three will come up and will enlarge if you click on one. I don't know what the black screw in rubber plug is to. It was just sitting there when I took the door off. I intend to watch the guy although his back will be to me. You say the gasket it behind the inducer??? I thought I might look at the new inducer when he brings it. He also said that he didn't know why it corrodes, that perhaps it's humidty that gets in there. I'll question him, but I don't want to take too much of his work time, because he's on the clock and each 15 minutes is about $25.00. I really appreciate your input and would love to have to look at the pics. Thanks.

 

[techpappy]

Yuri..is there any way the rust and excess condensation can be coming from the heat exchanger(s)? Just curious because I am considering switching from oil to propane and would like to avoid such problem units. Maybe not worth the effort? Thanks in advance.

 

[yuri]

Actualy that rust is normal and exactly due to the fact that the foam gasket they use shrinks and in 5% of them it leaks a bit of water and seals it self up with water mineral. MAKE sure he replaces that gasket and cleans the old one off properly. Lightly sand the surface of the collector box with a green scotchbrite pad (get one for him) as he probably won't have one to get rid of the residue of the gasket.

 

[yuri]

Yuri..is there any way the rust and excess condensation can be coming from the heat exchanger(s)? Just curious because I am considering switching from oil to propane and would like to avoid such problem units. Maybe not worth the effort? Thanks in advance.

NO. on some units there is a bit of rust but it is very rare. Most of the newer units do not have heat exchanger problems as long as they are not overfired/gas pressure set too high or overheated from poor airflow so I would change. Propane can be hard to burn cleanly in high efficiency furnaces I hear/am told so it needs to be setup properly and checked once a year to make sure it is burning cleanly or it can foul up the heat exchanger. Do you live in a rural area? Geothermal are expensive but very cheap to run and as long as the installer has been in biz for a long time and can service it properly may be an option. Ontario Hydro/Hydro One? had some good rebates and so did the fed gov't for Geo. A heat pump may also cut your costs down as long as you are in Southern Ontario where it does not get below -5 to -10 C too often.

 

[AnnieLou]

I posted another picture on this site. It can by seen by clicking on the photos link at the top of this page. It shows the corrosion on the bottom of the inducer motor. The initial reason I called the repair man was that the furnace had a 20 to 30 second irritating high pitched whistle at the beginning of the heating cycle. Do you suppose that there is a hole in the bottom of the inducer that is causing this? It doesn't whistle when the door is off.

 

[yuri]

No, the inducer is made from plastic and if it had a hole then lots of water would be leaking. The rusty water ran down the inducer from behind and is very small and normal. Unless you can post a CLEAR sounding recording of the sound then I cannot tell what it is. 100% of the inducers I replace if they are noisy will do it all the time when running so it sounds a bit suspicous that yours only does it on startup but anything is possible. I have worked on thousands of those units (very popular seller) and there have been no problems like yours but anything is possible.

 

[techpappy]

YURI..pardin me for interrupting. Just wanted to thank you for the info....I live in a small village with a small lot so, geo thermal not feasible..mid Ontario so, quite often get minus 15 C but will do more research before I do anything. 25% savings will take 6 years to pay back. THANKS AGAIN
Techpappy