A/C guys... 3rd fan motor in four years... what's up?

BigDanS

We installed a 5 ton American Standard split system 18 seer 9 years ago. The first fan went in warranty at 4 years 11 months. The second went in two years. Yesterday it seems to have died again, two years later and is out of warranty. I looked at the controller and the green light is on for the fan, but it seems to be moving in slow spurts, like either the controller is fried or the bearings are gone.

The dang thing is a variable speed motor , but at 5 tons it is sized for the house. Either it is on full power or it is off.

What's up? Any advice? They want $1000 to change it, again... :banghead

D

King_Me

Do you live near salt water?

mindyabiness

When you say "fan" you are referring to the blower...right?

I'm thinking that is an ECM motor? I had to replace mine after less than a year....but it was covered. I replaced it myself.
Apparently there is a design flaw with that motor.
I think that varying line voltage causes it to fail.
Those motors can go for 600 a piece....

BigDanS

It is the motor control module ( on the end of the fan motor ) $700 to replace it. OUCH! The motor and control module are $1100!

The guy just left, what a problem.

D

BigDanS

King_Me wrote: »

Do you live near salt water?

No, we don't live near salt and the air handler is inside.

D

AC Man

Welcome to the world of variable speed motors. A standard motor is about 350 installed and rarely ever fail.

BigDanS

OK, now I am really P.O.'ed.

The controller was bad, and I agreed to the new part, $680 installed. It was installed and did not work.

Turns out Trane has redesigned the controller and it does not work with their old motors. The new controller has smaller capacitors and won't start the old motors.

Although my motor is fine, the old controllers are not available anymore, which means I had to buy a new motor, too.

So two years after dropping $1000 on the exact same parts I had to do it again, total bill $1050.00.

Seems wrong. I am going to attempt to contact Trane.

D

S.S.Tupperware

Check the controler, maybe just a start cap...ezpz and 5 bucks...

BigDanS

Called Trane customer service and filed a complaint with them. We'll see what the resolution is.

D