Hello everyone. My furnace/AC blower motor crapped out while we were on vacation. It spins but only slowly. The unit was left off for a week and we returned to a blower fault “fan failed to reach 250 rpm”.

Diagnostics:
Power off, power on, thermostat on, condenser fan and compressor fire up, lines get cold, blower motor spins slowly and kicks that fault code but continues to run slowly until the tstat is shut off. I shut it off to prevent anything from freezing.

Pulled the motor. Motor windings measure 10.9 ohms across all three. No shorts to ground. The ECM is an ECM 3.0 out of an ICP comfortmaker. It has the silicone insulation on the circuit board but nothing looks blown, like a cap or thermistor - however, I can’t test to confirm because I can’t get to anything with that gel in place.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to further confirm the ECM has failed? And if it’s failed, where do I order one of these programmed for my unit? I’m not against replacing the control board, motor and ECM as a package to eliminate this proprietary stuff.

Can i retrofit an x13 with a new control board? Any other suggestions? I’m just out of a five year warrantee and don’t want to pay someone if I don’t have to.

Thank you you for your time and consideration.

 

Module control board: cepl130988-30-r

Furnace: G8MVL0901716A1

 

You might want to check with the people at the link below. I have no affiliation with this company, nor have I ever ordered from them. I ran across them when I was searching for info on ECM motors.

https://www.unitedhvacmotors.com

 

You have to make sure the motor module is getting the right signal from the board before condemning the module.

There should be specific instructions on how to troubleshoot ecm 3.

I know the older versions could be troubleshooted with a multi-meter. ecm 3 may be communicating.

 

I'm going to jump 24 volts to the low speed section today to bypass/check that the module is doing its job.

Assuming it is the motor, does anyone know if I can slap a board for an x13 in and then retrofit an x13 motor? The motor and board would be cheaper than the ecm 3.0 motor alone - and I don't have to try to order one programmed for my unit since the x13s all take the same dummy motor/ecm combo.

 

Would void safety certifications if there's an equivalent model that uses an x13 motor instead.

You should be able to get the module alone.



If this unit is under 10 years old it may still be covered by a parts warranty and the contractor's service call/labour will be cheaper than the parts. You can't warranty this stuff yourself.

I don't know what you're referring to but it's best to stick with the manufacturer's troubleshooting procedure. Try to find a service manual online.

I don't think you can jump anything out, the ecm 3 looks like it's communicating, doesn't take straight low voltage inputs.

Furnace model looks like an icp so may be on "gokeeprite" site. (gotempstar, etc same thing)

 

Just a note for anyone that has a similar issue. After speaking with a technician, finding it would be $90 to confirm my diagnosis, around $1200 for the part, plus labor, I decided to go it alone and ordered a QwikSwap online and PSC motor from Grainger. Wired everything up and had the AC kicking in a few hours for about $350. The QwikSwap board works great and the PSC motor is surprisingly quieter than the "old" 3-phase unit (probably an installation thing).

I'd recommend the QwikSwap board to anyone with a similar issue, pulling their hair out over an ECM motor. I am not affiliated in any way with QwikSwap technologies; just thought I'd let people know. I would've preferred to retrofit a 3-phase or go with a factory replacement but now 1. I don't have to deal with ECM module failures in the future and 2. If the motor ever goes out again, it will cost $100 to replace.

Thank you everyone for your input.