Heating Problem.....Wonder what this will cost?....

[Stanley Steamer]

I woke up to the smell of burnt plastic/electrical this morning....it's 20 degrees outside and the outside AC unit is running, but the blower under the house isn't.....the heat came on, and I sniffed one of the floor vents....the smell was coming from there....I wonder if the blower motor has locked up??...because there was very little air coming through the vents....it normally blows pretty strong.....

This is a Trane unit that is supposed to be a good efficient model..the system is only 4-5 yrs old...last year about this time, the compressor in the outside unit burnt out and it had to be replaced.....dang, we are supposed to be down into the teens the next few days.....the water pipes will freeze if we don't have heat running through the vents in the crawl space.....

[..]

Check it out before anything terrible happens. 

[Thunderbolt]

for the first time this year.  Mine will make a terrible smell if I run the temp down several degrees when it is cold.  The fan blows dust etc. over those electrical coils all year and until you turn on those resistance heaters it won't burn off.  But jam that thermostat down and the dust burns off the first time you use it.

[Stanley Steamer]

for the first time this year.  Mine will make a terrible smell if I run the temp down several degrees when it is cold.  The fan blows dust etc. over those electrical coils all year and until you turn on those resistance heaters it won't burn off.  But jam that thermostat down and the dust burns off the first time you use it.

I know that smell you're talking about, but this is different and the other clue is that there was very little air coming out of the vent...that dusty smell usually happens at the start of the heating season here.....I just looked and our system was replaced with a Trane unit in 2003....parts warranty was for only 5 yrs......

[Stanley Steamer]

Check it out before anything terrible happens. 

We cut the heat off for now....it's 20ish in Athens.....and if the blower IS fried, using the emergency heat feature is futile.....

[Jack]

If it is a high efficiency model with variable speed motor, it could run in the hundreds.  How long is your warranty?  Most high efficiency models should have 5 years on parts.
If you have had that many problems with the unit, maybe time to change units and get the efficiency tax break the govt is offering.

[Stanley Steamer]

If it is a high efficiency model with variable speed motor, it could run in the hundreds.  How long is your warranty?  Most high efficiency models should have 5 years on parts.
If you have had that many problems with the unit, maybe time to change units and get the efficiency tax break the govt is offering.

This unit is 7 yrs old....put in 1-7-03.....parts warranty was for 5 yrs....compressor for 10....that was replaced this time LAST year....our old Rheem unit lasted over 15 yrs and it was just a low cost model.....these Trane units are supposed to be the best??....I can't tell.....

The Wife is NOT happy...we paid ~$3,800 for them to replace the blower and AC unit and she will NOT want to have to do that again....last year, Shumate, the company that installed it, wanted to replace the whole outside unit when the compressor failed....it had a 10yr warranty,...wanted to charge $983....an AC guy from work came and replaced just the compressor, drier, capacitor?. for $129.....he never paid a dime for the compressor.....Shumate might want to replace the whole Air handler unit if they come out....

[hubcapsc]

The motor on the downstairs air handler went out for us last season... no heat blowing out, just
heat trickling out of the intake... anywho, Mr. Webb (HVAC man) came over
and we went under there, determined it was the motor, he put in a new one and $300.00 later
we were good to go. Hope you have a good Mr. Webb where you live...

After you get it fixed, remember to keep your filters clean... Mr. Webb tells everyone to use the
replace-every-month really light-weight ones, he thinks the heavy weight ones are basically
"pre clogged" right out of the package, and are the cause of many premature HVAC failures...

-Mike

[Stanley Steamer]

The motor on the downstairs air handler went out for us last season... no heat blowing out, just
heat trickling out of the intake... anywho, Mr. Webb (HVAC man) came over
and we went under there, determined it was the motor, he put in a new one and $300.00 later
we were good to go. Hope you have a good Mr. Webb where you live...

After you get it fixed, remember to keep your filters clean... Mr. Webb tells everyone to use the
replace-every-month really light-weight ones, he thinks the heavy weight ones are basically
"pre clogged" right out of the package, and are the cause of many premature HVAC failures...

-Mike

I'm thinking that will be the problem here.....Shumate added a CAP 100 5" filter WITH a 1" regular filter in front of that unit to our system when they installed the air handler....it is a WHOLE house, super duper filter system.....I think they did that figuring we would pay them to replace the filters every 6 months.....those filters supposedly aren't supposed to put a strain on the blower, but I think your friend may be right....those 5" filters cost ME $45-50 each until the last batch I ordered...maybe the strain of pulling air through them for the last 7 yrs was just too much for the blower?......

[Jack]

The motor on the downstairs air handler went out for us last season... no heat blowing out, just
heat trickling out of the intake... anywho, Mr. Webb (HVAC man) came over
and we went under there, determined it was the motor, he put in a new one and $300.00 later
we were good to go. Hope you have a good Mr. Webb where you live...

After you get it fixed, remember to keep your filters clean... Mr. Webb tells everyone to use the
replace-every-month really light-weight ones, he thinks the heavy weight ones are basically
"pre clogged" right out of the package, and are the cause of many premature HVAC failures...

-Mike

If it is a variable speed motor, $300 won't touch it.  As for filters, I prefer the cloth-like pleated filters.  Yes, they should be changed regularly.  I never recommend the "electro-static" or carbon filters unless your system is designed for it.  Too much resistance can cause problems.

I sell Rheem but not where you live, SS.  There are some good brands out there and I would go with what your HVAC dealer recommends.  I've seen units last 35 years before having problems and I've seen systems that did not last 5 years.  Annual maintenance and regular filter change does help.  Having a quality tech servicing the unit helps a lot.  Some of these guys should not be allowed off the farm.

[Tundra]

Stanley, Is this one of those AC with a heatpump like we use in Florida? If yes, is this a heatpump type unit or a heat strip type unit? If you have a heatpump, go out into the frigid temps and check your coils for icing.

[Jack]

Heat pumps are a whole nother story.  I'll never own another.  They work great when you don't need them.

[Thunderbolt]

to get you by until tomorrow.  Weekend service will cost you $$$$$$.

[Stanley Steamer]

Stanley, Is this one of those AC with a heatpump like we use in Florida? If yes, is this a heatpump type unit or a heat strip type unit? If you have a heatpump, go out into the frigid temps and check your coils for icing.

We have the heat pump....with back-up heat strips for emergency heat....the outside unit is free of ice and was running, just very little to no air coming through the vents....and when I went under the house, the air handler wasn't making any noise....telling me that the blower wasn't on....I think it is a Multi speed blower according to my paperwork....

[Stanley Steamer]

I wonder if there's a relay switch that turns the blower on and off?....but then why would it have smelled like burnt electric unless maybe the blower motor overheated or locked up?....

[fudgie]

Is there a reset on your motor? Maybe the smell was the heat that has no where to blow to or by the means to.
Close all your outside vents that go under the house. It should stay realatively warn under there even without heat so I wouldn't worry about your pipes. Just run your water every hour or so to get things moving. Close all your doors that aren't needed, such as the bed rooms and bathroom. We do that now and when we go to bed you can see your breath!  Being a Yank, we deal with no heat for days in colder weather.

[Pete]

As a temp fix get a 20" box fan, remove the filter and place the fan blowing into the return air at high speed. Good luck with the fix, Pete.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Is there a reset on your motor? Maybe the smell was the heat that has no where to blow to or by the means to.
Close all your outside vents that go under the house. It should stay realatively warn under there even without heat so I wouldn't worry about your pipes. Just run your water every hour or so to get things moving. Close all your doors that aren't needed, such as the bed rooms and bathroom. We do that now and when we go to bed you can see your breath!  Being a Yank, we deal with no heat for days in colder weather.

Just a suggestion however if you had one going right now the house would be warm and toastie....I work in the power industrie and I've seen ice storms and tornados leave folks without power for weeks. One of the worse tornado's we worked hit in Feb 2008. It turned bitter cold just after it hit ( the cold front is what caused the tornado ) folks was having a hellofa time ...No food,gas,water and most important no power. When we built new powerlines people fight us keep us tied up in court cause no one wants a powerline run through their neighborhood ( the lines we built are the high-lines ) ...But when that light switch don't work they love seeing us come into the hood.When you can Steamer buy you some type of emergency back-up for that just in case.

[Jack]

Just a thought:  Is there a fan "on" switch on the thermostat?  That might tell you if it is the motor.  Multi-speed is cheaper than variable speed.  May be something as simple as a capacitor.  There will not be a reset on most residential HVAC motors.  Do you own a volt/amp meter?

[hubcapsc]

Just a suggestion however if you had one going right now the house would be warm and toastie...When you can Steamer buy you some type of emergency back-up for that just in case

I'm with Smokin Joe on this one... I've got just such emergency heat ready to go out in the shed when
needed... a kerosene heater and two propane "Mr. Heaters"... I aspire to have a masonry chimney
one day and a wood stove, so that I'm self sufficient WRT fuel... Stanley's got a great masonry
chimney, but just a fireplace, and he hasn't ever used it so it needs inspection before it would be safe...

-Mike

[fudgie]

Is there a reset on your motor? Maybe the smell was the heat that has no where to blow to or by the means to.
Close all your outside vents that go under the house. It should stay realatively warn under there even without heat so I wouldn't worry about your pipes. Just run your water every hour or so to get things moving. Close all your doors that aren't needed, such as the bed rooms and bathroom. We do that now and when we go to bed you can see your breath!  Being a Yank, we deal with no heat for days in colder weather.

Just a suggestion however if you had one going right now the house would be warm and toastie....I work in the power industrie and I've seen ice storms and tornados leave folks without power for weeks. One of the worse tornado's we worked hit in Feb 2008. It turned bitter cold just after it hit ( the cold front is what caused the tornado ) folks was having a hellofa time ...No food,gas,water and most important no power. When we built new powerlines people fight us keep us tied up in court cause no one wants a powerline run through their neighborhood ( the lines we built are the high-lines ) ...But when that light switch don't work they love seeing us come into the hood.When you can Steamer buy you some type of emergency back-up for that just in case.

Where was this at Joe?

[Stanley Steamer]

Just a suggestion however if you had one going right now the house would be warm and toastie...When you can Steamer buy you some type of emergency back-up for that just in case

I'm with Smokin Joe on this one... I've got just such emergency heat ready to go out in the shed when
needed... a kerosene heater and two propane "Mr. Heaters"... I aspire to have a masonry chimney
one day and a wood stove, so that I'm self sufficient WRT fuel... Stanley's got a great masonry
chimney, but just a fireplace, and he hasn't ever used it so it needs inspection before it would be safe...

-Mike

I brought two electric heaters in the house....I just want to get this fixed today, so that I don't have to put electric heaters UNDER the house tonight...I closed the foundation vents off yesterday and it was pretty warm under there at 7am this morning....temps are supposed to be in the teens the next few days....

[JerryB]

In the cold north,we let the water trickle out of the faucets at night if it gets too cold.......Gotta have a plan#3 Stan........JerryB.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Is there a reset on your motor? Maybe the smell was the heat that has no where to blow to or by the means to.
Close all your outside vents that go under the house. It should stay realatively warn under there even without heat so I wouldn't worry about your pipes. Just run your water every hour or so to get things moving. Close all your doors that aren't needed, such as the bed rooms and bathroom. We do that now and when we go to bed you can see your breath!  Being a Yank, we deal with no heat for days in colder weather.

Just a suggestion however if you had one going right now the house would be warm and toastie....I work in the power industrie and I've seen ice storms and tornados leave folks without power for weeks. One of the worse tornado's we worked hit in Feb 2008. It turned bitter cold just after it hit ( the cold front is what caused the tornado ) folks was having a hellofa time ...No food,gas,water and most important no power. When we built new powerlines people fight us keep us tied up in court cause no one wants a powerline run through their neighborhood ( the lines we built are the high-lines ) ...But when that light switch don't work they love seeing us come into the hood.When you can Steamer buy you some type of emergency back-up for that just in case.

Where was this at Joe?

They called it " Super Tuesday " they hit Feb. 5 & 6 and most of them came in the night    Eighty-seven tornadoes occurred over the course of the outbreak, which lasted over 15 hours from the afternoon of February 5 until the early morning of February 6.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Super_Tuesday_tornado_outbreak

[fstsix]

I had a heat pump AC unit back in CA, When it gets below 35 or so the compressor will freeze up and go into defrost mode, at that time your inside air handler has heat strips in it like a toaster about 1500 watts, you can hardly feel any heat, think its called emergency heat, that might be the smell of the strips burning off dust or something?  bottom line heat pumps suck wont find any up here in the Great white north, keep a eye on it, http://en.allexperts.com/q/Heating-Air-Conditioning-696/2009/12/Heat-pump-efficiency-emergency.htm how about that spellin on this guys site  Git-R-Done 

[Stanley Steamer]

In the cold north,we let the water trickle out of the faucets at night if it gets too cold.......Gotta have a plan#3 Stan........JerryB.

I've got a call in to the folks who installed the unit....this being a Sunday, it's going to leave a mark on the wallet......

I hope to get this fixed today, otherwise, it'll be me having to put a heater under the house....I do have the pipes insulated about 5-10' back from the foundation and have the vents closed off down there....electric heaters are going to raise my levelized bill if they are used too long.....

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

Hope you get her going. Got a new unit put in @2 years ago and payed for the 10 yr part AND labor warranty. Backup heat sources too are a must. Electric, propane, kerosene etc.

[Jack]

In the cold north,we let the water trickle out of the faucets at night if it gets too cold.......Gotta have a plan#3 Stan........JerryB.

I've got a call in to the folks who installed the unit....this being a Sunday, it's going to leave a mark on the wallet......

I hope to get this fixed today, otherwise, it'll be me having to put a heater under the house....I do have the pipes insulated about 5-10' back from the foundation and have the vents closed off down there....electric heaters is going to raise my levelized bill if they are used too long.....

yep, when all else fails, bend over and spread them cheeks. 

[BigMac NJ]

Stan,

As JerryB stated above just  open your taps just above a trickle and they won't freeze..

Kevin

[hotglue #43]

Quote..........NO thank you!!.....I'm glad my house is all electric...(~$100/month levelized bill with 2 outbuildings)

I don't like Gas/Propane/Natural Gas products to heat with.....cause this would be my luck....end quote.

Might be time to rethink.... All yer eggs in one basket limits your options.
Hope ya get it fixed!!!!!!!  11*f is COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! let the faucets drip, and get a heater under the house... cheaper than replacing the plumbing!!!!!

[Stanley Steamer]

Quote..........NO thank you!!.....I'm glad my house is all electric...(~$100/month levelized bill with 2 outbuildings)

I don't like Gas/Propane/Natural Gas products to heat with.....cause this would be my luck....end quote.

Might be time to rethink.... All yer eggs in one basket limits your options.
Hope ya get it fixed!!!!!!!  11*f is COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! let the faucets drip, and get a heater under the house... cheaper than replacing the plumbing!!!!!

  ......well, I think we've just had the bad luck to get a BAD unit.....the old Rheem unit lasted ~15 yrs before a reversing valve went bad...instead of $700 to replace that part, we had this "new" system put in 7 years ago.....my Wife is severely ticked off(and it's that time of the month).....She said "Nobody can stop a Trane!"...except her..... ......

They don't have any gas in our neighborhood and I don't want it anyways.....once we get this thing fixed, it SHOULD last a few more years.....hopefully......otherwise, we'll have a Johnny Cash AC unit..."One piece at a time and it'll cost a LOT more than a dime!"......

[Normandog]

Can't add anything to the suggestions you already have. But I can say I hope you get it resolved soon. It's gonna be COLD. Good luck Stan.

[Stanley Steamer]

Can't add anything to the suggestions you already have. But I can say I hope you get it resolved soon. It's gonna be COLD. Good luck Stan.

Thanks Ron....got a service guy on the way.....$118 on weekends....but if it's a bad blower, he might have to order one tomorrow...I hope they have some in stock or available at some supply houses....supposed to get down to 15 here tonight.....

 Thanks for all the help folks.....

[fudgie]

Can't add anything to the suggestions you already have. But I can say I hope you get it resolved soon. It's gonna be COLD. Good luck Stan.

Thanks Ron....got a service guy on the way.....$118 on weekends....but if it's a bad blower, he might have to order one tomorrow...I hope they have some in stock or available at some supply houses....supposed to get down to 15 here tonight.....

 Thanks for all the help folks.....

Balmy 15! I think thats our hi today.  Is there any snow coming down there?

[stormrider]

The motor on the downstairs air handler went out for us last season... no heat blowing out, just
heat trickling out of the intake... anywho, Mr. Webb (HVAC man) came over
and we went under there, determined it was the motor, he put in a new one and $300.00 later
we were good to go. Hope you have a good Mr. Webb where you live...

After you get it fixed, remember to keep your filters clean... Mr. Webb tells everyone to use the
replace-every-month really light-weight ones, he thinks the heavy weight ones are basically
"pre clogged" right out of the package, and are the cause of many premature HVAC failures...

-Mike

I'm thinking that will be the problem here.....Shumate added a CAP 100 5" filter WITH a 1" regular filter in front of that unit to our system when they installed the air handler....it is a WHOLE house, super duper filter system.....I think they did that figuring we would pay them to replace the filters every 6 months.....those filters supposedly aren't supposed to put a strain on the blower, but I think your friend may be right....those 5" filters cost ME $45-50 each until the last batch I ordered...maybe the strain of pulling air through them for the last 7 yrs was just too much for the blower?......

Stanley, I agree with hubcapsc. My HVAC man told me the same thing. He said don't use the heavy duty, extra capacity filters. Use only the once a month filters. Better air flow and less money. 6 month supply costs about $15. Good luck and does sound like the blower. You might be able to buy the blower and replace yourself.

[Stanley Steamer]

GOOD NEWS....it turned out that it was just the run capacitor on the blower motor.....and not the motor itself....it was turning, but slowly.....the new capacitor was $63...+ $118 for the weekend service call.....$181....much better than waiting on a blower motor to be ordered since the temps will be in the teens here the next several days..... ....

We took the 1" regular filter out and left the 8-Merv 5" filter in...I had replaced them on Oct 19th and they were still clean as a whistle......the large filters only have to be changed out every 6 months....even then, when I last did that, it was still mostly clean.....

He said they charge $149/yr for a serv contract...that they check the freon levels, wash the coils off(I do that myself a couple of times a year) and more importantly....that they check the capacitors and such to make sure they are holding up....that they would most likely have been able to tell that one was going bad....???...Do you guys think it's worth it for that considering I keep the coils clean/filters changed out regularly?.....as it is, if something like this happens every year, it'd be the same as a service contract....

[Stanley Steamer]

Can't add anything to the suggestions you already have. But I can say I hope you get it resolved soon. It's gonna be COLD. Good luck Stan.

Thanks Ron....got a service guy on the way.....$118 on weekends....but if it's a bad blower, he might have to order one tomorrow...I hope they have some in stock or available at some supply houses....supposed to get down to 15 here tonight.....

 Thanks for all the help folks.....

Balmy 15! I think thats our hi today.  Is there any snow coming down there?

No snow here today...Weather Channel claims there's a chance on Thursday...I guess everyone will buy out the bread and milk now.....

[JerryB]

Must be when we bought our place in southern AL.,we brought the cold air with us JerryB.

[Stanley Steamer]

Must be when we bought our place in southern AL.,we brought the cold air with us JerryB.

Ya'll keep that COLD air up there in Yankee Land!!.....

[Jack]

Just a thought:  Is there a fan "on" switch on the thermostat?  That might tell you if it is the motor.  Multi-speed is cheaper than variable speed.  May be something as simple as a capacitor.  There will not be a reset on most residential HVAC motors.  Do you own a volt/amp meter?

Capacitors just don't last like they use to.


Some will tell you not to use a service contract but, if you have a reliable company, they might save you some piece of mind if not money.