Furnace making a heck of a racket…
This has been getting progressively worse since this last summer. The blower fan in my furnace unit is starting to get pretty noisy. Not knowing a whole lot about HVAC, is sounds like a bearing going out or maybe a fan motor. Can anyone advise me what the most common things to look for are, and is it something that is easily or cheaply fixed? The noise actually is more audible out of the vents upstairs that down at the furnace in the basement, but if I hold a block of wood up to where the blower is and put my ear to it, I can pretty much isolate it to there.
Motor? Bearing? How bad and how much? I think I may have just figured out what to get the wifey for Xmas. Heh heh.
Thanks for any help or advice, guys…
Bob
Replies
If contant rattly type racket, probably a bearing, if the noise cycles in intensity every few seconds, it may be the fan bearings or the rubber shock mounts on the motor frame.
Turn off the breaker, open the filter door (you have replaced the filter at least once a year haven't you <G>? ) and jiggle stuff around and see what is loose. A clunk type noise at about a 100 to 300 Hz rate can simply be a frayed fan belt also. A dead mouse inthe squirrel cage or extremly dirty squrell cage will also make a 100 to 300 Hz type noise due to imbalance.
Worst case of noise ever had to fix was a constant ticking type noise, which was the crimped ends of the squirrel cage itself coming loose. Had to take that apart, repeen the tabs, then braze them for a permanent fix- one could also replace the whole fan in that case if you are rich.