For Pete's Sake, I Can't Believe This.

15 years ago

We have a 100 yr old house and put on an addition 6 years ago. We replaced the old furnace and added central air. We did one unit for the upstairs and one for down. I love this setup because if one unit goes out, you still have heat or A/C on the other floor. Welllll, wouldn't ya know. My husband goes fishing up in Canada last week. Then, I went out for my birthday and came home to a hot house. I thought maybe I had too many drinks, because I couldn't get the fans to kick in. So, I went (fell) in to bed. The next day, I had our HVAC guy out to have a look. He couldn't believe it. In all his years, he's never seen two furnace fans go out on the same day.

It's so coincidental, I am worried that maybe something happened to them to cause them to fail on the same day. Any ideas? Our fans are variable speed blowers and the cost is $2400 for the two. OUCH! I knew it would be expensive when he said 'variable speed' (I'm a kitchen designer and I know what ventillation costs!) So, I don't want this to happen again. HVAC guy also said maybe we need to replace filters more often. We do it every 3 months. He said we need to do it once a month.

Would love to hear any feedback....or some sympathy! We had 90+ temperatures and our fans were special order and will finally get installed tomorrow. And some sympathy that my DH went fishing on my b-day! LOL.

Thanks,

Kompy

Ps. We recently installed a whole house surge suppressor. Surely, that couldn't have hurt the fans!

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Comments (16)

fluffybunnysui
15 years ago
Wow !! $2,400 for 2 ECM motors? I'd like to know the make & model numbers of the units. Are the air handlers hard to get to? I just installed a var. spd. motor in a gas Rheem and the whole bill to my customer was only $633.00

Post a little more info about the units please.
garymunson-2008
15 years ago
I'm thinking the motors AND control boards went together? Would explain the cost. Sounds like power surge/lightning strike to me....
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kompy
Original Author
15 years ago
I'm at work now, so I can't look up any of the info.

What I do know:

Make: Amana

HVAC guy said that the two motors are different from each other...not sure why.

The one he took out, we kept. I recall it had the following words:
-GE Motors
-ECM
I can post the model numbers when I get home.

I'm pretty sure we didn't have any control boards replaced.

I was able to Google the Amana motors and they only had one listed on a website that was variable speed....it was something like $950. So, I just figured that my HVAC guy gave me a typical market price on it.

I really love our HVAC system and I have no regrets, but jeeesh....those are really expensive replacement parts.

I'll get back with you guys and maybe you can tell me if he's overcharging me.

Kompy
tigerdunes
15 years ago
these motors are not at least covered under a parts warranty?

the likelihood of both failing at the same time would be about the same as hitting the lottery.

lightening storms in the area?

something not right here...

IMO
heimert
15 years ago
Yeah, I'm guessing lightening/power surge.
kompy
Original Author
15 years ago
tigerdunes, Yes...we agree...like hitting the lottery! In fact, my DH went out and bought some tickets this week! Think I'll buy a couple myself.

The funny thing is...the circuit boards are fine. These are more 'electrical sensitive' and you'd think if it were lightning, then they would need replaced too, right?

And also my DH installed the whole house surge protector right before he left for Canada. The units were working fine before he left for his trip.

I can't recall any big electrical storms except for the one that hit AFTER our units died.

We don't know what to think....it's so perlexing!
coolair4u
15 years ago
I would also guess power surge if both were actually bad.It is highly unlikely that the actual motors were bad on both.Most probably the module, or ICM circuit board.
fluffybunnysui
15 years ago
I found this a while ago...might be helpful.

Here is a link that might be useful: ECM motor repair
kompy
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks fluffybunny! Interesting article. I'm sure that my engineer husband (EE) will be able to understand it much better than me.

Here are some of the numbers I found on the GE MOTOR:

ECM Programmable
5SME39SL0639 (the 0 is the number zero)

Another number:
20257810

GE 3/4 HP

Anyone know what this should cost? No luck on Google.
Thanks.
miken_2008
15 years ago
I would like to know what the line voltage is coming into your house in our area I frequently encounter voltages above 255vac and have to have the customer call the local power company to work on their service I would get all the info I could because if something doesn't sound quite right it usually isn't

Here is a link that might be useful: Air Conditioning Repair made Easy
daft_punk
15 years ago
Installing the whole-house surge protector may have messed up your home's neutral connection. A loose Neutral would unbalance the 120V circuits in the house. Depending on what was running at the time, half of your outlets and fixtures would have low voltage while the other half would be on the high side.

Does your central air uses 120V motors? If so, a poor Neutral connection could kill one or both of them.

Have you notices some lights in your home getting BRIGHTER when you use certain appliances? This is a pretty good sign of Neutral problems.

I would more likely to believe that a lightning strike caused your problems. However, you said there were no storms in the area until after the motors failed. The coincidence of the surge-protector install would therefore be my best guess.

Good luck.

Marco
kompy
Original Author
15 years ago
Marco and Miken, Thanks for taking the time to respond. We will definitely check out those possibilities. If we ever get to the bottom of this, I will post here again.

Thanks,
Kompy
the-bear
15 years ago
For all:
do not underestimate the liklihood of lightening. You do not have to have threatening storms in the area to have a strike and the source can be miles away. If any have an interest you can visit the National Weather Service at: www.weather.gov/
mike13
15 years ago
Re: "And also my DH installed the whole house surge protector right before he left for Canada. The units were working fine before he left for his trip."

That could be the Smoking Gun. Marco made some good points above. I'm also an EE but on the semiconductor/computer side of things. So while I want to think I know everything there is to know about residential wiring I'm not a professional as that is not my day job. Doesn't mean I don't do all my own electrical work though but I usually research a fair amount on things I'm not sure on.

Other thing to consider is the whole house surge suppressor could be faulty. Does it have an alarm to tell you when the MOVs (metal-oxide varistors) are bad? These devices are sacrificial or maybe they were bad to begin with.

Or it could have been your husband's installation?

Given that it was installed just prior to going on his fishing trip he was probably in a hurry & knowing it was on your birthday he had probably caught a little grief over that so his head might not have been totally focused on the job at hand.

It just seems too coincidental that the surge suppressor was installed just prior to both units going out which as mentioned above is low probability. If you don't want it to happen again I'd hire an electrician to check your husband's work.

Mike
mike13
15 years ago
Kompy,

Did you ever determine the root cause of the problem?

Mike
fsq4cw
15 years ago
I too think that Marco & Mike are on to something; but I would just soon blame Canada!

SR

For Pete's Sake, I Can't Believe This.

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