d-a-v-e

hello, im new to the forum found it while browsing for info online...
the blower motor on my York heater has died... i did some troubleshooting and also had a tech from a company come out and he also determined the motor is bad... my blower seems to be fine it spins freely just the motor never kicks on.... they are asking $1600 for repair....and recommending i just get a new heating unit which would be $2500-3000, i want to try to repair it myself with an equavalent motor... the specs on the motor are;

Variable speed
1 HP
120 volt
11 amp
60 Hz
spins CW from lead side

the heating unit is a gas York unit model p2mpu20n0b001a, installed in 1995,
it works fine the gas kicks on, flames start to burn, small exhaust fan turns on but blower never starts spinning, checked fuse its fine, there is an LED on the power supply which blinks green at a slow rate which means its fine...
the only thing i have not checked is the capacitor which i have read on the forum here to check, i do not see it anywhere so im not sure if this unit has one, i have not started taking it apart yet....

my questions are where could i purchase a comparable motor and if i do just get the motor would i be able to attach it to the blower...? any suggestions would ge greatly appreciated... happy holidays!

glennjanie

Welcome D-A-V-E:
You might try to contact York directly who could steer you to a local distributor. Many of the variable speed fan motors are 'direct current' and are extremely expensive. I'm sure you would not have any trouble installing a new one. One convenience point; you may need a long tee-handle allen wrench to remove and replace the screw in the closed side of the blower. You will find that screw where there is a dent in one of the vanes near the closed side.
Another thought is to visit a local dealer and see if he has a used motor that still works.
Or you could take the old motor to a Heating, ventilating, air conditioning; refrigeration supply store for a new one.
If the unit is not over 12 years old, I would recommend repari; if it is over 20 years old it is time for a new one.
Glenn

glennjanie

One more thought, you might take the motor to an electric motor shop for repair or rewinding. When we get up to 1 hp they are worth rebuilding.
Glenn

d-a-v-e

thanks for the advice....

well i was able to take it apart, suprisingly the motor seperated from the blower fan easily, i took some pictures of it i will post later, it looks like its a GE motor but there is a date code on it of 03/27/03 or at least it looks like a date code which means that is not the original motor since my heat unit was installed in 1995.... ive only been living in this house for 1 year 10 months....

so i am going to see if a can find a local electronic shop and see what they say....

d-a-v-e

still working on this, i had the guy that repairs electric motors look at it and the motor seems to be fine, however there is a control unit that is attached to the back of the motor with 2 screws and the motor plugs into it.... it actually looks like its part of the motor but its not... when you take the back off there are several caps and other electrical components inside attached to a circuit board and you can clearly see a burn mark by what seems to look like a diode... it has a part # of SG379 on it.... so im pretty sure that is the problem.... so basically im doing some parts hunting, see if i can find anything online...

glennjanie

Hello D-A-V-E:
It will be nice if you can match the diode (transistor, resistor or whatever it is) but the service men usually replace the whole circut board.
Sounds like you are doing a good job though; keep up the good work.
Happy New Year
Glenn

d-a-v-e

well looks like im a bit SOL so far....

the failed component is actually a thermistor however i dont know the value of it and the only number on it is SG379, i was talking to a friend of mine who used to repair circuit boards and he said if that thermistor failed there may also be other components that failed on the circuit board.... so even if i were to solder on another one it may or may not work...

i contacted a couple local motor repair GE places, however they said they do not work on the residential motors for furnaces nor do they have parts for them and that i would have to contact York...

so i emailed a few york places for a price quote but since its a holiday weekend they are probably closed.... so im still hunting for parts... here are pictures of the motor and circuit board...

motor attached to blower
motor with control circuit on the back of it
motor close up picture
another close up pic
control circuit detached from motor bottom of circuit shows burn mark
control circuit top view thermistor is the small round disk shape in the center
picture showing how control circuit detaches from motor

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

glennjanie

Motor shops usually don't want to work on 'fractional horse-power' motors but since yours is a one horse, I would think there would be willing to sell parts for it.
Another thing you might try is taking the circut board to Radio Shack who can test it and sell you many of the small parts. I admire your tenacity; you've really stayed with this one.
Happy New Year
Glenn

d-a-v-e

sorry for the really really really late response to this... but I ended up finding a store that sold me the motor and the control circuit for about $1000 but i pretty much had no choice, its the only place that would sell it to me, and my house got down to like 40 degrees, i couldnt get it from York since they only sell to people who have a license to work on AC/heating systems.... and they told me the control circuit only came with the motor....

so i installed it and its been working fine....

about 2 weeks after i installed it some guy emailed me from craigslist, since i posted on the wanted adds there, and he said he could get me just the control circuit for about $400 but it was a little late....

so basically if i ever replace this heating system i will make sure my next one will have a single speed blower motor which costs about $100...... sure the variable speed motor may not be as loud and supposedly uses less electricity but if you have to replace it every 4 to5 years because a $10 electrical component fails then its a waste of money....

Davideo111

DAVE
I'm having your problem with same GE variable speed motor on Trane furnace. What looks like a capacitor but you say is a thermistor is bad and I cannot find a replacement. By any chance did you find a better source than Craig's list for the controller or the replacement component part? You are correct. This is really frustrating!
Thanks from another Dave