Timing is everything.

[NoCar340]

Unbelievable.

I was getting ready to go out and replace the cad-cell relay in my defunct garage furnace so I could get back to working on my Challenger when a horrible sound started emanating from my basement. I thought I recognized it immediately, but I was a bit off the mark. I went down to investigate and it was, indeed, the house furnace making the racket. I thought it was the blower, but it turns out it's the inducer for the power vent. The motor was hot, but it didn't sound like a bearing. I shut it down and called a friend who happens to be a long-time HVAC guy, and he suspects the impeller lost a blade and went out of balance rather than a bearing failure. Either way, I'm without heat for the moment since running it eventually will kill the motor.

I say "Timing is everything" because it's a positively-balmy 26°F outside right now, with plenty of sunshine and highs in the mid-upper 30s and even the low 40s forecast for the next few days. Had this happened a week ago, when the high was 2° and overnight lows were near -30, things would've been a bit more dire. I decided years ago to live simply, which is another bonus--it doesn't take much to heat a 650-square-foot house.

My friend is going to his shop because he thinks he has a used inducer--car guy that he is, he parted out furnaces they'd replaced over the years--but if not, he's got a few electric heaters he'll loan me until I can get a new inducer. The electric bill will suffer, but at least the dog will be comfortable.

I guess the garage and Challenger can wait another day. What's one more after 7 years?

 

[moparleo]

Sounds like a good time for everyone to be thinking about home maintenance, especially those that live in colder areas.
We sometimes don't think about things until they fail especially at the worst times. Like not checking our tires for example.
Prayers for all of our citizens out there suffering in this cold wave.
Be prepared.

 

[NoCar340]

I changed the control module in this furnace literally a month ago after years of living with a minor malfunction. Over the past few years, I've also changed the ignitor, differential pressure switch, the thermostatic control for the cool-down period, and just about anything else that could fail. Only the main blower remains; otherwise I'll have a brand-new 27-year-old furnace with the new inducer.

Everyone keeps telling me to install a new one, higher efficiency, blah blah blah but the house is so small that the 94%-efficient unit I have now has generated an all-time high gas bill of $108. In an average winter, $75 is more the norm--and the water heater is gas as well. How much will I really save on the thousands spent? I think newer windows are a much better investment in the short-term.

 

[Tom's EK2]

How about run out of propane to heat the garage, discover you're out of gas in the welder

 

[budascuda]

" the ignitor, differential pressure switch, the thermostatic control for the cool-down period"

Sounds like you are running a 2nd gen. nuclear power plant

 

[NoCar340]

DOOD! Ixnay on the reactor talk... the government can read this too, y'know.

 

[Tom's EK2]

Urggh -
To late!
They can hear & see what you are thinking.

 

[NoCar340]

The overnight low dipped to a nice, even zero. With three tiny space heaters on their low setting, the house managed to stay at a very-livable 66°. The outside temp right now is already at yesterday's high of 25.

I neglected to mention that my friend brought an almost-perfect, brandy-new replacement inducer with him. I say "almost" because the only difference was in the starting capacitor: Mine's built into the motor, whereas his was for a remote mount. We agreed it that while it was well within my skill level to hack apart the old motor and rob the capacitor to make the thing work, the best option was to just get the right unit. I can get the right one for about $65 less and have it by mid-week. Taking the predicted temps and last night's results, I don't feel a need to call him back and tell him I'm ready to butcher.

I am going to pull the old inducer and inspect the damage. If it's indeed a missing fin and the hub's not shot, I may take a shot at removing an opposite fin in the hopes of a redneck re-balance. It's only got to last a couple of days.

 

[budascuda]

Removing the opposite fin is a brilliant idea!
I have come across a missing fin problem a few times in the shop, but balancing it by removing the opposite fin never occurred to me.
As for the cold, hang in there, Punxsutawney Phil has predicted an early spring!

 

[NoCar340]

Removing the opposite fin is a brilliant idea!

Thanks! Lke I said, it's not a permanent solution but it might get me by for a couple of days. The house is back up to 69° already, so if it doesn't work it's no emergency.

That rodent is not to be trusted, at least up this way. For my entire life, two weather facts have had almost perfect consistency: We'll get a "Fool's Spring" in late February (unseasonably-high temps, happening right now) and we'll get a snowstorm of 4-6" around the third week of April. Oh, and #3: People who have lived here their entire lives will start the wailing and gnashing of teeth when it's not 70° on the first day of spring. I assure you, within a week we'll be back in the low 20s or teens for high temps.
On May 10th of 1990, there were 8" of snow on the ground by noon. It had been in the low 60s the previous day, and it was 70° on the 12th. I don't worry about "spring" until the calendar says "June".
A bit over an hour north of me is a town whose weather history shows August as the only month in which they've never had a recorded single-storm snowfall of 6" or greater. Six inches of snow in July?! Funk dat... it's bad enough here.

 

[NoCar340]

So much for the "redneck re-balance" idea, at least in this case.

 

[sir_veza]

Urggh -
To late!
They can hear & see what you are thinking.

Ya never know...Ed Snowden may stumble on this site by mistake instead of Lada Forum.com haha

 

[sir_veza]

Unbelievable.

I was getting ready to go out and replace the cad-cell relay in my defunct garage furnace so I could get back to working on my Challenger when a horrible sound started emanating from my basement. I thought I recognized it immediately, but I was a bit off the mark. I went down to investigate and it was, indeed, the house furnace making the racket. I thought it was the blower, but it turns out it's the inducer for the power vent. The motor was hot, but it didn't sound like a bearing. I shut it down and called a friend who happens to be a long-time HVAC guy, and he suspects the impeller lost a blade and went out of balance rather than a bearing failure. Either way, I'm without heat for the moment since running it eventually will kill the motor.

I say "Timing is everything" because it's a positively-balmy 26°F outside right now, with plenty of sunshine and highs in the mid-upper 30s and even the low 40s forecast for the next few days. Had this happened a week ago, when the high was 2° and overnight lows were near -30, things would've been a bit more dire. I decided years ago to live simply, which is another bonus--it doesn't take much to heat a 650-square-foot house.

My friend is going to his shop because he thinks he has a used inducer--car guy that he is, he parted out furnaces they'd replaced over the years--but if not, he's got a few electric heaters he'll loan me until I can get a new inducer. The electric bill will suffer, but at least the dog will be comfortable.

I guess the garage and Challenger can wait another day. What's one more after 7 years?

Hope you get your furnace back up soon.

 

[NoCar340]

I'd found the right inducer on eBay at a good price, and the seller was close to boot. I made an offer, he accepted, and the inducer arrived today.

Now, I naturally want to believe the best in people, and therefore I don't think the seller ever actually opened the box. However, upon opening it I noticed a loose piece of plastic sticking out of the original kraft-paper packing material. So I started to dig to see what was up with that. In the next few seconds, a lot happened. I noticed that the wires had been cut and taped, and then things got dramatically worse.

It's at this point that I should interject that I am insanely insectophobic. As in, even butterflies. Can't explain it, makes no sense, I know better, but it's a phobia.

Inside the motor, the kraft paper, and everywhere else were live box elder bugs--lots of 'em. Probably 20 or more. I had about split second to jump backward before I was virtually paralyzed. The UPS driver didn't know how to react; my co-worker saw me go white and the look on my face, and immediately grabbed some brake cleaner. She went on a killing rampage while I stood there frozen and the UPS driver silently panicked but did nothing else. He finally said, "I don't know what to do!" to which my co-worker said, "GET IT OUT OF HERE!" Obviously I refused the delivery and UPS is taking it back to the seller. The seller has not yet responded to my message requesting a full refund. The UPS driver admitted he's never seen a genuine phobia like that, nor had he ever seen a package full of bugs in his 34 years with UPS.

If you don't have a real, acute phobia, there's no explaining it except maybe the feeling you have the instant you wake up after dreaming you were falling and about to hit the ground. Except I felt like that for a few hours, and almost six hours after the event I'm still on edge and can feel the higher blood pressure. I'm glad I had it shipped to my job--I don't know what might've happened had I opened that in my living room.

I'm a couple more days out on a new, bug-free inducer, but at least the weather's still cooperating and the space heaters are maintaining nicely on their lowest settings. The scare was far worse than the actual setback.

 

[sir_veza]

I'd found the right inducer on eBay at a good price, and the seller was close to boot. I made an offer, he accepted, and the inducer arrived today.

Now, I naturally want to believe the best in people, and therefore I don't think the seller ever actually opened the box. However, upon opening it I noticed a loose piece of plastic sticking out of the original kraft-paper packing material. So I started to dig to see what was up with that. In the next few seconds, a lot happened. I noticed that the wires had been cut and taped, and then things got dramatically worse.

It's at this point that I should interject that I am insanely insectophobic. As in, even butterflies. Can't explain it, makes no sense, I know better, but it's a phobia.

Inside the motor, the kraft paper, and everywhere else were live box elder bugs--lots of 'em. Probably 20 or more. I had about split second to jump backward before I was virtually paralyzed. The UPS driver didn't know how to react; my co-worker saw me go white and the look on my face, and immediately grabbed some brake cleaner. She went on a killing rampage while I stood there frozen and the UPS driver silently panicked but did nothing else. He finally said, "I don't know what to do!" to which my co-worker said, "GET IT OUT OF HERE!" Obviously I refused the delivery and UPS is taking it back to the seller. The seller has not yet responded to my message requesting a full refund. The UPS driver admitted he's never seen a genuine phobia like that, nor had he ever seen a package full of bugs in his 34 years with UPS.

If you don't have a real, acute phobia, there's no explaining it except maybe the feeling you have the instant you wake up after dreaming you were falling and about to hit the ground. Except I felt like that for a few hours, and almost six hours after the event I'm still on edge and can feel the higher blood pressure. I'm glad I had it shipped to my job--I don't know what might've happened had I opened that in my living room.

I'm a couple more days out on a new, bug-free inducer, but at least the weather's still cooperating and the space heaters are maintaining nicely on their lowest settings. The scare was far worse than the actual setback.

WOW - Hope you're feeling better!! Not too many people want to see bugs crawling out of a UPS package they ordered. Hope you get your refund.

 

[NoCar340]

I'm fine now... I finally settled down last evening. Of course, my house is still being run on space heaters, I had to spend another $200 on an inducer from a different source, and now the seller's insisting on having the part back before he'll issue the refund. He claims he has employees check packages, write down serial numbers, etc. before shipping to protect himself; I told him he needs to have a word with one of them because mine could not have been checked. I noticed that the tracking number now says "PACKAGE HALTED" after I refused it and is sitting in the local terminal. As the sender, he can stop the package going back to him so I question if that's what he did.

Based on what I know of eBay's money-back guarantee, if he won't issue the refund it'll be bad for him. Not only will I get my money back, I'll absolutely leave bad feedback describing the condition. If eBay has to pay me it comes out of his account and his fees increase... ultimately, he makes less money on every sale henceforth. EBay always sides with the buyer. They know what side of the bread is buttered, to the point of not even being fair to sellers in many instances. This ain't one of 'em, though.

I'm still trying to be nice about it, but my fuse is only so long for shenanigans like this... and he's well within "perhaps we'll discuss this in person" distance. Hell, I'm within spitting distance of him a couple of times a year already.

 

[sir_veza]

Sorry you have to go through all this drama. You're right that he's making matters worse for himself at he end of the day!