I Am In HVAC Hell

Our furnace stopped working on December 26, a double whammy since it's the day after Christmas and a Saturday. The temp in the house over the last two nights has been 48 degrees. Luckily, I have some world-class backpacking mummy bags for sleeping so that's not our problem. Our problem is, I know exactly why our furnace doesn't work and no one will sell me the parts. The draft inducer blower assembly needs replacing because the motor seized in the middle of the night.

So get another one and install it, right? After all, this assembly appears in over 300 different heaters across various brands including Sears-Kenmore. There are quite a few of them in stock in various locations around me but all these places sell only wholesale to licensed HVAC contractors of which I am not one.

Yes, I can go online and order one right now. It will take three days to get here and I've got my wife's aunt and uncle coming in for a visit. They're in their 80s. So I need one yesterday and yesterday was Sunday.

Does anyone have a CA HVAC contractor license I can "borrow" so I can go to a place less than a mile from my house, buy the assembly, and install it in less than an hour? If anyone knows a place in SoCal who will sell a unit to me, that would help also. I'm open to ideas.....

Order online and air freight. If you pay enough you will have it by 8:30 AM tomorrow.

Yes on the east coast, no on the west. Thought of that but most places need their orders in by 10:00 am EST. All these outlets are on the east coast or the midwest. One place will do it at 1:00 but that was an hour ago.

Is it a sleeve bearing motor? If so, pull the motor, disassemble and clean shafts and bearings, lube and reinstall? Sometimes a liberal dose of penetrating oil and a drill on the end of the shaft will do wonders. If it's a ball bearing motor, remove the bearing and take to a bearing shop for replacement. Other than that, I've got nothing.

Do like kids do with beer and hang out outside in the parking lot. There has to be somebody good enough to grab one for you if you have cash? Of course I'd make sure they purchase it before handing over the moolah.

prime to the rescue.

http://www.amazon.com/Fasco-A225-Furnace-Inducer-Blower/dp/B000NMJO8O/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1451342182&sr=8-3&keywords=blower+inducer+motor

If it's a oilite bushing motor, tear it down, grease the bushings (EP wheel bearing grease, or maybe 85w140) and put it back together. Should run for at least a few days like that.

Guys, there's so much axial play, the fan hits the back of the housing. It's dead. Deceased. Ceased to be. Beyond the mortal coil. Pushing up daisies. Amazon prime does not have my draft inducer motor. Trust me. I looked. I appreciate all the help but it's beyond fixing. If it was a Spitfire engine with a bad thrust bearing, you'd tell me to pass on it.

Nepa, I'm considering the cash bribe. Unfortunately, it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Jerry From LA wrote: If it was a Spitfire engine with a bad thrust bearing, you'd tell me to pass on it.

Surely it can't be THAT bad... :-)

Best of luck my friend.

A nylon "thrust" washer from Lowes might keep it alive for a couple of days, or break out the cash. Someone walking into the HVAC supplier has some credit card bills that will be coming due soon.

Good luck.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote:

Jerry From LA wrote: If it was a Spitfire engine with a bad thrust bearing, you'd tell me to pass on it.

Surely it can't be THAT bad... :-) Best of luck my friend.

Oh yes it is. The blower fan wedged itself against the housing and the cooling fan on the other end of the motor shaft hit the inside of the heater cabinet and self-destructed.

Jerry From LA wrote:

Fueled by Caffeine wrote:

Jerry From LA wrote: If it was a Spitfire engine with a bad thrust bearing, you'd tell me to pass on it.

Surely it can't be THAT bad... :-) Best of luck my friend.

Oh yes it is. The blower fan wedged itself against the housing and the cooling fan on the other end of the motor shaft hit the inside of the heater cabinet and self-destructed.

I bet that was noisy. Good luck with the bribery.

I found on on Craigslist when I needed one. HVAC guy had tons of new/used parts in his garage.

I finally found one on Amazon Prime. However, it won't come until Weds at the earliest. That would be one night of sleeping bags for the seniors.

You might consider picking up something like this.

They make a decent end table when not in use, and give you emergency heat for when the furnace pukes at the worst possible time. We use ours when it gets so cold the heat pump won't keep up, it does a great job of keeping a couple of rooms warm when necessary.

Edit: This is the one I have.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200632846_200632846

Just go to Grainger and buy one. I have always just walked in and bought stuff. If they ask, say that you are self employed and do odd jobs for senior citizens or something.

Also, a $10 box fan stuffed into the bottom of the furnace will be better than nothing. It will get some air moving.

Grainger is a great idea. Can you order online and pickup in the store?

pinchvalve wrote: Just go to Grainger and buy one. I have always just walked in and bought stuff. If they ask, say that you are self employed and do odd jobs for senior citizens or something. Also, a $10 box fan stuffed into the bottom of the furnace will be better than nothing. It will get some air moving.

Pinchy,

It's not the air handler motor. It's the draft inducer motor. It has two functions. First is pulling air through the heater to make it burn hotter. Second is to blow products of combustion out the flue. The assembly is a precision fit in a scroll housing so there's no leakage. I don't want my wife and I to die in our sleep from excessive CO contamination.

I talked to a guy from an outfit called Air Cold Supply in Pomona. Supposedly he has one en route to a warehouse in Riverside. At 8:00 am PST, they will ascertain its whereabouts for certain and truck it to Pomona where I will pick it up around 11:00 am. Allegedly.

Even as a licensed professional, there are certain HVAC and water treatment products I can't buy unless I'm in their "network". Feel free to read price gouging into that comment. Even at my usual supply house, the prices are different. I'm considered a plumber even thou I am not afraid to try everything even remotely considered under the scope of plumbing and heating. It doesn't exclusively say heating contractor in my description, so even thou I installed a half dozen boilers this year, the heat guys can get the boilers cheaper than I can. Yesterday I installed a well tank for someone. The well guy quoted $1100 and had lots of built in possibilities for extras. I not only installed the tank, but all of the "extras" as well for $675. Called some of my well buddies and they were mad I didn't charge more. As each niche in the world gets more and more specific, the people in that niche are free to charge more and more for their services. You want to make a boatload of money, become a service tech that specializes in repairing and servicing these new high efficiency heating systems and wall mounted water heaters. Nobody wants to do it, and more importantly, there aren't many plumbing and heating professionals smart enough to do it.

tr8todd, I suspected as much. I'm with you on learning to service some niche product like high efficiency heating systems or hybrid battery packs. Don't think for a minute I'm not considering it.

In the meantime, someone supposedly put eyeballs on this motor assembly and it's on its way to Pomona. I'm leaving in a bout 30 minutes to go pick it up.

I'm just surprised that it got cold enough in SoCal for the inside of your house to get to 48 Degrees.

That's infuriating. I had a fun conversation of calling the actual manufacturer of our furnace that happened to be 20 miles away.

"Do you sell parts for your products?"

"yes of course"

"Do you have a xxx.xxx.xxx in stock?"

"Yes, what's your license number?"

E36 M3.

Thankfully in my case it was the main squirrel cage, a much more common and rudimentary part, that exploded because two mice died on it and threw it out of balance. Welded it back together to run for a day or two, and Grainger or McMaster or someone had a close-enough replacement.

In reply to STM317:

I was scraping ice off my car this morning in (coastal) San Diego. I'm expecting a rebate on my local taxes this year. This is not what I signed up for

The Hoff wrote: In reply to STM317: I was scraping ice off my car this morning in (coastal) San Diego. I'm expecting a rebate on my local taxes this year. This is not what I signed up for

Trying times indeed...