Bud Cline

If by some small chance it is the brushes....
Trust me - you can do it. Changing brushes is straight forward and easy to do. Pull the old ones out and put the new ones in. Not much different than changing the batteries in a kids toy or flashlight.

Considering the cost of motors it's worth a shot.

Let us know what happens.

Wuzzat?

Ah, yes.
But Blanche, and possibly Stanley, had problems that were not easily fixed by DIY.

DSM-IV-TR case studies: a clinical ... - Google Books

Nestor_Kelebay

If it was me, I would take that electric motor to a motor rebuilding shop and they'd be able to tell you what's wrong with it after a few minutes of testing, and probably wouldn't even charge you for doing that. If the motor is only 10 years old, there's probably not too much wrong with it.

But, as pointed out earlier, the heat exchangers in furnaces typically only last 15 to 20 years or so, so you don't want to be putting a lot of money into an old furnace.

wlr211

Just thought I'd put a cap on this thread for anyone interested or sharing a similar problem. I ended up purchasing a new motor from Grainger at a price of $164.00 and that has seemed to correct my problem.

Prior to acquiring the new motor I called an electric motor repair shop here in Atlanta. They wanted $85 per hour to work on the motor and I figured that, even if it only took one hour to make the repair, I would not be saving that much given that I'd have to pay for parts and allow additional down time for the repair.

I did save the old motor and intend to take it apart and see if I can repair it. That'll give me a spare for the future. Although I'm not sure how much of a future my furnace system has.

One slightly tricky and unexpected element to installing the new motor was the fact that some electric motors, like the one I bought, are reversible. I needed to reverse the black and red wires inside the motor housing in order to make the motor run in the direction my system needed it to run. No big deal, I just didn't know this until after I had installed the motor and realized something wasn't right. To paraphrase the immortal words of The Who, "I won't be fooled again." At least, not by that particular issue.

Anyway, everything seems to be working as it should. I have heat and I think I got the pulleys aligned properly and the tension on the fan belt correct. And, though others I'm sure could have done this job quicker and better, I learned, once again, that some home repair projects aren't brain surgery. If one is willing to give it a shot and, in my case, crawl on his belly like a reptile through a crawl space it is possible to be one's own repairman. Thanks again to those who offered advice for my problem.

Nestor_Kelebay

Every single phase induction motor is reversible. By reversing the leads to the start and run windings, the motor will turn in the opposite direction. Induction motors include capacitor start motors (of the kind you find in high torque applications like air compressors and refrigeration motors) and split phase motors (like you find on washing machines and clothes dryers).

In fact, the whole design of Maytag top loading clothes washers revolves around the fact that the motor can be made to turn backward. There is something called a "motor relay" in Maytag washers that reverses the leads to the motor so that it turns in one direction during the wash and rinse cycle and in the opposite direction during the two spin cycles. Since the water pump is connected to the motor via a drive belt, it's the reversing direction of rotation of the pump that pumps the water out of the washer during the two spin cycles, but keeps it in the machine during the wash and rinse cycles.

Probably one of the best sources of information from which to learn about electric motors is your own American military's training manuals. There is a company called "Intergrated Publishing" (w w w.tpub.com) that makes a business of selling these manuals to the general public. Since this information was compiled at the taxpayer's expense, it is owned by the American public. So, Integrated Publishing can't charge you for this information (since you own it already); it charges you for the service of loading that information onto a CD-ROM and mailing it to you.

Integrated Publishing has all of the American military's training manuals online at:
Repair and Maintenance Manuals - Integrated Publishing

Probably the most popular training manuals are the Navy Electrical Engineering Training Series (or NEETS for short), and it can be found here:
Neets - Naval Electrical Engineering Training Series
Their electronics training manuals are also very well written and very popular.

And, all I know about electric motors comes from the section on motors and generators, which can be found here:
Neets Module 05-Introduction to Generators and Motors

and the section on induction motors (which are the kinds of motors most commonly used in furnace blowers, circulating pumps, washers, dryers and fridges can be found here:
CHAPTER 4 ALTERNATING CURRENT MOTORS

Wuzzat?

Pun intended?

Nestor_Kelebay

Wuzzat:

I don't want to disappoint, but there's no pun to be found in there.

In a washing machine spin cycle, the wash tub ROTATES about it's axis.

The Earth REVOLVES around the Sun and the Moon REVOLVES around the Earth.

Two completely different words to describe two completely different motions, just as Noah Webster would have seen good sense in.

Or am I not seeing the pun you're suggesting is there?

Wuzzat?

I have adjusted my Pun Detection neural network to give fewer false alarms.