Calling HVAC Gurus - ECM HVAC DC Motor

[Gobi King]

My Goodman/Amana's house furnace was acting up.
Called my buddy Roger, and he came out 3x to replace the DC motor.

I was not in stock and he had to wait a few days, he came out first on Sunday (it was very gracious of him to do so).

Motor was $960
yeah, I am back to eating ramen for the rest of the year.

Emerson ECM motor

m055pwcsw-0283

If I lookup it on google, I see I can get it at grainger.com

at a much lower price, really?

Any clue if it is the same motor?

I want to buy a 2nd one and keep it in the furnace room so NEXT TIME.

[Wompus Cat]

It is Rare for those to go out however they are generally multi stepped (Speed) motors and are a little pricey . You will nearly always find cheaper motor prices from industrial suppliers rather from a HVAC Company (some mark ups are phenomenal ) plus a lot of these motors have oil vents so it is good to oil them occasionally .
The rest of your system will prob go out before another motor is needed...... I mean look on the Bright Side 

[Gobi King]

It is Rare for those to go out however they are generally multi stepped (Speed) motors and are a little pricey . You will nearly always find cheaper motor prices from industrial suppliers rather from a HVAC Company (some mark ups are phenomenal ) plus a lot of these motors have oil vents so it is good to oil them occasionally .
The rest of your system will prob go out before another motor is needed...... I mean look on the Bright Side  

My research (googling in bed, yeah don't my neighbors), the head of the motor's EMC unit fails,
It is a brushless motor, that uses FETs to mimic 3 phases (just like my ebike motors) but at a much higher voltage.

Oil - hmm, I check the old motor, TSI 321?

10 years and 6 months, JUST 6 months OUTTA warranty, arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh

[alantani]

Been having furnace problems as well.  The bearings in the Fasco blower motor have been rumbling for a year and finally seized up.  I was not able take it apart,  so I ended up buying a new one for $250. I also replaced the $10 capacitor. All good now!!!

[Gobi King]

Been having furnace problems as well.  The bearings in the Fasco blower motor have been rumbling for a year and finally seized up.  I was not able take it apart,  so I ended up buying a new one for $250. I also replaced the $10 capacitor. All good now!!!

No oil ports? Good Price on the motor (a/c motor probably),
Nice, do would you know when to change out the Capacitors? (guessing it was a starting cap).

[foakes]

It is good when one can do things on their own — or at least have a basic understanding of how things operate and how to diagnose issues.

Monday I had the septic tank pumped out — it was 2/3rds full — so just preventative care before any problems arise.

Installed new lids — then made steel covers to go over the lids — then covered with the 3/4" granite rock.

The Generac automatic LP standby whole house generator was not starting once a week on its own for the exercise cycle.  Checked it yesterday.  It would start after a while of cranking manually.  I had already replaced and gapped properly a new spark plug, changed the oil & filter, serviced the battery, installed a new air filter, and adjusted slightly the LP regulator.  Still not starting on it's own.  Decided to check the engine compression...Oh,oh — only 20 lbs, of compression on my gauge — should be 110, or so.  Just saw $$$ signs flying out the window.  Decided a last ditch effort would be to check and adjust the valves.  Pulled the valve cover, adjusted and regapped the (2) valve lifters with a gap gauge, dental probe to determine position, and a 1/2 inch Allen wrench.    Put it back together, connected everything.  Expected the worst.  NO, it started even when cold within 2 seconds.  Never worked that well in the last 11 years.  112 pounds of compression.  Got lucky on this one!

Then, the last job yesterday was to replace the heating element in the 1250 Watt electric wall heater in the upstairs bathroom.  It went out last Thursday, I diagnosed the issue and ordered a new element from Gary's electric in Minnesota last Friday.  Arrived on Monday — 10 minute job to cut the power — remove the old broken element — install the new one — checked and tested everything — works perfect!  $18 for the element, $15 shipping.

Made a lot of points with the wife over the last (2) days.  If I don't use them by the end of today, they will expire.  Actually, those little suckers may be gone already — she may be on a 24 hour point redeeming schedule.

If it were me, I would not get a second back-up motor.  Something else will likely happen before your new motor goes out again.  Let the suppliers stock the inventory for something that may (likely won't) go out while you are still in the house.  And if it does — shop around for another motor at that time.  Don't expect the worst — and don't stock expensive parts — let the suppliers do that.

Best, Fred

[Aiala]

Made a lot of points with the wife over the last (2) days.  If I don't use them by the end of today, they will expire.
Best, Fred

!!!       

~A~

[Bill B]

Made a lot of points with the wife over the last (2) days.  If I don't use them by the end of today, they will expire.
Best, Fred

!!!       

~A~

I guess I got off easy, just had to assemble and install some rolling shelves in the basement laundry room 😆

[oldmanjoe]

Made a lot of points with the wife over the last (2) days.  If I don't use them by the end of today, they will expire.
Best, Fred

!!!       

~A~

Yer the honeymoon / Anniversary was last week , you are back to a short window again !!

[Maxed Out]

 Well, I really do feel your pain. Our air handler has been waiting for circuit board replacement since 3rd week of Sept. Our house is 3500 sq feet rambler and have been running space heaters and barely keeping up. 3 weeks ago our part arrived, but turns out it not direct replacement, cause it's only for a 10kw heat strip, and the air handler is set up as 20kw. So he installs the 10kw setup and now has to order more parts, but says those can't be had till January cause the supply houses warehouse thier parts in Oregon where end of year inventory taxes are zilch

I should mention I am a journeyman HVAC installer, but never got into the refrigeration or servicing side of the trade, mainly cause those service guys are always on call 24/7....no thanks

[Gobi King]

Made a lot of points with the wife over the last (2) days.  If I don't use them by the end of today, they will expire.  Actually, those little suckers may be gone already — she may be on a 24 hour point redeeming schedule.

If it were me, I would not get a second back-up motor.  Something else will likely happen before your new motor goes out again.  Let the suppliers stock the inventory for something that may (likely won't) go out while you are still in the house.  And if it does — shop around for another motor at that time.  Don't expect the worst — and don't stock expensive parts — let the suppliers do that.

Best, Fred

Fred, Better cash em in quickly :-)

I hear you but here how last weekend went:

Sat Day 11 pm - Gobi going throw mental list for trip to IN on Sunday, Gobi smells air coming out of being a little "WHAT THE SLUSH", Gobi moves chunky behind at speeds that would leave H Bolt in the dust and zips downstairs to furnace room.

Sat Day 1158 pm - Gobi grabs couple of gallon paint cans and makes an impromptu seat and proceeds to watch the flame go out and try to come back on.

Sunday 1 am - Gobi shuts down furnace and goes upstairs and turns on a bunch of space heaters  and watches temp change in main living room.

Sunday 3 am - Gobi confirms that temp is holding steady at 67F and passes out in bed

Sunday 738 am - Gobi calls Roger and cries HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP

Sunday 1155 am - Roger comes to Gobi's rescue, Gobi starts packing truck for trip

Sunday 1 pm - Gobi gets the bad news from Roger that it needs a new motor but he does not stock it and if he has the parts guy open up on a Sunday, it is going to be $$$ plus time to wait for the guy. Decision to leave it to Roger to get this done when he can.

Monday Afternoon - Roger comes back  to check a few more things.

Tuesday Afternoon - Roger gets the part and fixes furnace

Tuesday evening - Gobi shows up from IN trip and everything is kosher again

3 Full days without furnace as even the parts guy did stock it and had to order it and Roger had to make 3 trips from 15 miles away.

Being without a Furnace for 3 FULL days when it is 20F outside will be an event that if it can be avoided then I am all for it.

3 nights in a hotel would run around $500, not to mention the aggravation of packing everything and ....

I am probably going to stock few of the key parts for the furnace, only because it is 10.5 years old and I hate to find out, oh that part is not made anymore.

I hear you on keeping expensive parts on the shelf, but I depend on Roger (fellow fisherman and a fine one too, he is the best fisherman in our club), and having parts on hand will make his life much simpler too.

For me it is peace of mind thing.

[Gobi King]

Made a lot of points with the wife over the last (2) days.  If I don't use them by the end of today, they will expire.
Best, Fred

!!!       

~A~

I guess I got off easy, just had to assemble and install some rolling shelves in the basement laundry room 😆

lol, I hope you got to take a few breaks in between ;-)

[Gobi King]

Well, I really do feel your pain. Our air handler has been waiting for circuit board replacement since 3rd week of Sept. Our house is 3500 sq feet rambler and have been running space heaters and barely keeping up. 3 weeks ago our part arrived, but turns out it not direct replacement, cause it's only for a 10kw heat strip, and the air handler is set up as 20kw. So he installs the 10kw setup and now has to order more parts, but says those can't be had till January cause the supply houses warehouse thier parts in Oregon where end of year inventory taxes are zilch

I should mention I am a journeyman HVAC installer, but never got into the refrigeration or servicing side of the trade, mainly cause those service guys are always on call 24/7....no thanks

Ouch!

I am finding out getting some parts is like catching a 5 lb perch in MI.

[Brewcrafter]

The two individuals that should be in everyone's circle of "fishing buddies":  HVAC person and an independent plumber!  And in my case - an electrician as well since my knowledge of electrical is pretty much limited to screwing in incandescent bulbs. - john

[Gobi King]

The two individuals that should be in everyone's circle of "fishing buddies":  HVAC person and an independent plumber!  And in my case - an electrician as well since my knowledge of electrical is pretty much limited to screwing in incandescent bulbs. - john

Amen, We are blessed with a bunch of diverse people in the club, from Attys, Doc, Dentist, State Pen... and even a retired boat motor mechanic.

I rarely sidewalk any of these unless I ask them first if it is ok. Some individuals in retire don't like to be bothered and some volunteer donating their time.

Grandma has a retired podiatrist in her bridge club and he drives up 7 hours to hold free podiatry clinic in the UP.

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Back on topic, I learned a lot from researching the ECM motors (corrected I called EMC) I will post a summary.