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Chevymec

Looking for HVAC help!!!

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Father in law called me today and said the condenser fan was buzzing and not turning today on our upstairs unit. He killed the breaker. Got home , cut it back on and gave the fan a spin and it started working. Had a spare new capacitor since this isn't the first time this now 8 year old unit has quit. Replaced it and still had to give it a spin to start up. Its a Goodman unit. Didn't see a 2nd capacitor on it but it does have a circuit board close to the capicator.  Any help is appreciated!! 

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Sounds like a bad blower motor. They can develop dead spots that will prevent it from starting.

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Agree^^^^

 

Most likely not a dead spot you have hit multiple times. But the motor probably has to much resistance to get it moving from a dead stop. If its a lubeable motor(very old) you can oil it and maybe get it working. But if its not you have to replace the motor as they are non-serviceable. Sad thing is that more than likely the only problem is the bearings on either end of it.

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HVAC guy came out. He has done all my work.  He replaced the capicator and all is good. Not sure what happened but he showed my wife the capicator I replaced last night was ballooned out. Something happened to it.... Anyways, thanks for the responses.  My wife woke me up at 3am to make sure I knew it didn't work and she was sleeping downstairs. He is giving me an estimate to replace everything. The air handler is from 1986 and I already replaced that fan a few years ago . Tired of the upstairs never being cold ( never under 76*)during the summer so he is gonna come back and look at everything and see what we need to do. Said could be the routing of the duct work we ad replaced 10 years ago.

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11 hours ago, Chevymec said:

HVAC guy came out. He has done all my work.  He replaced the capicator and all is good. Not sure what happened but he showed my wife the capicator I replaced last night was ballooned out. Something happened to it.... Anyways, thanks for the responses.  My wife woke me up at 3am to make sure I knew it didn't work and she was sleeping downstairs. He is giving me an estimate to replace everything. The air handler is from 1986 and I already replaced that fan a few years ago . Tired of the upstairs never being cold ( never under 76*)during the summer so he is gonna come back and look at everything and see what we need to do. Said could be the routing of the duct work we ad replaced 10 years ago.

a bad cap does this from time to time. things aint made like they used to. the fan cap is also on the compressor cap. one capacitor does the fan motor and the compressor. if the fan side goes bad, mayby you have to replace the capacitor. if you got a fan capacitor, then you can cheat. same with the compressor.

i cant remember, but i think i got capacitors with higher voltages, for units because they would last longer. as if it called for 330 volts, i would get one for 440 volts. this was before [made in china], came about. now it dont matter.

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Back when I was HVAC school they said expect 15 years and if it was anything over a couple hundred to fix it's cheaper in the long run to replace the furnace. Every year you got past 15 without major repairs is a bonus. I got a Weil-McLain boiler in 1997. Keep it clean, I changed the temperature/pressure gauge twice and the pop off valve once. Still looks and runs like new.

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On 6/11/2020 at 5:28 PM, PROV said:

Back when I was HVAC school they said expect 15 years and if it was anything over a couple hundred to fix it's cheaper in the long run to replace the furnace. Every year you got past 15 without major repairs is a bonus. I got a Weil-McLain boiler in 1997. Keep it clean, I changed the temperature/pressure gauge twice and the pop off valve once. Still looks and runs like new.

the name reminded me of something. was a furnace in the old house. just a little bit of a carbon leak, that may have been there, from day one. a weld would have fixed it. 1/8 wide. i think it was the same name. got a modern furnace, they dont hold the heat, so well. such is progress. one job i worked, they had an aluminum water heater, that was made in the 30's, still working. dont fix it if it aint broke. i missed my chance to get a free boiler, the bosses son, replaced the grandfathers boiler. it went for scrap. the pipes were popping in the house. the new boiler, didn't correct it.

nothing wrong, with boiler heat, that i can think of at this moment. the grandfathers, house, still popped. 1x1700, when water expands to steam, may have been the problem, plus a pipe that, that goes downhill, when its supposed to go up.

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On 6/11/2020 at 5:28 PM, PROV said:

Back when I was HVAC school they said expect 15 years and if it was anything over a couple hundred to fix it's cheaper in the long run to replace the furnace. Every year you got past 15 without major repairs is a bonus. I got a Weil-McLain boiler in 1997. Keep it clean, I changed the temperature/pressure gauge twice and the pop off valve once. Still looks and runs like new.

keep it as long as you can.

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I have a hot water boiler. I don't know anybody in the area who runs a steam boiler anymore except up the Iron Range. If your pressure is correct and you have purged the air it is silent except the sound of the gas burners.

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jeep has a hot water  heating system ... that's just plain wicked .... I'll see of i can dig the thread up... 

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expect to pay anywhere from 3k to 10k for just the cooling/heating system. then tack on another 2k-5k for the duct work. i just had my package system replaced about a year and a half ago ?, cost to replace the package unit was around 10k. here's a tip for ya !. when it stops cooling ?..DONT THINK ITS LOW ON FREON !. check the air filter and check the condensing coil !!. if one of these is dirty ?, it will stop cooling !. here in the south, cooling units work over time for most folks. myself ?, i could care less about air condition !..lol. i love heat..where is others around here melt if they dont have air !..lol.

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yep, mine cost me upwards of 6k .... 2 years back (with an extended warranty) ... the added cost was because the heat exchanger from the furness (i had updated) if i stay ?? next will be the upstairs unit .... for now she's humming perfectly ... i just don't use it much ... 

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1 hour ago, PROV said:

I have a hot water boiler. I don't know anybody in the area who runs a steam boiler anymore except up the Iron Range. If your pressure is correct and you have purged the air it is silent except the sound of the gas burners.

less dust. i could stand the sound of the noise, if i could hear it. open windows would due a lot for cooling, but they run the air, when it it 60f outside. i cant explain to them. open a window, get fresh air, that is also cool.

the prices have went up, since 2003, from what it cost now, HVAC. i cant believe how much. i wonder what a politician, cost these days. lol

Edited by LedFTed

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As to dust - some people claim it comes from the furnace and these adds for portable electric heaters saying your furnace makes dust/soot are pure bunk. If you had a cracked heat exchanger than soot and carbon monoxide can get out in which case it has to be shut down and immediately condemned and replaced. Any dust you see is simply house dust. Hot water or steam systems attact it to the radiators because of convective heat flow. It gets on your furnace filter from air flow. The furnace filter is only designed to protect your blower motor from the dust. These new high efficiency air filters that they advertise as getting rid of dust can plug up very fast. This puts more strain on the blower motor and doesn't move air efficiently off the heat exchanger causing welds and joints to crack prematurely.

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7 hours ago, shadetree said:

expect to pay anywhere from 3k to 10k for just the cooling/heating system. then tack on another 2k-5k for the duct work. i just had my package system replaced about a year and a half ago ?, cost to replace the package unit was around 10k. here's a tip for ya !. when it stops cooling ?..DONT THINK ITS LOW ON FREON !. check the air filter and check the condensing coil !!. if one of these is dirty ?, it will stop cooling !. here in the south, cooling units work over time for most folks. myself ?, i could care less about air condition !..lol. i love heat..where is others around here melt if they dont have air !..lol.

We had the down stairs done not long ago. Went from a split unit to an all in one, duct work, electrical work, turn key job for $4700. 14 sire unit, I think 2 or 2.5 ton.  He quoted me $4500  for the upstairs air handler and heat pump. No duct work included. I told him about it never getting below 76* during the blazing hot summer and he said he would have to come back and check the duct work routing and the insulation in the attic. Haven't heard back from him yet. I think he might not want to do it since it was said we would probably have to get an attic pull down door installed in the hallway. 

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Mine isn't steam, it's hot water, but yep, still have a boiler in the basement, radiators throughout the house, and a small circulation pump that pumps the hot water through the system.  Works great, doesn't dry out my sinuses like forced air, and is a much more even heat.

 

The den was a garage once upon a time.  My grandfather enclosed it back in the 50's, and ran lines through the floor, connected to a water heater and another small circulation pump, so that room has a heated floor.  It's NICE in the winter.

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