Amana Air Command blower sounds bad
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Amana Air Command blower sounds bad
I have an Amana Air Command 90/95. It is 14 years old. The furnace works, but the blower is making a lot of noise. It sounds like a dryer -- like something is thumping around in there. It also makes a kind of harsh creaking noise when it starts up, as if it needs oil or something.
We think we may need to replace the blower, or maybe tighten something up? It doesn't look like the blower itself is loose from its mounting, but I could be wrong. It seems like it will be tricky to even get in there and take a look at it, as there is a panel with wires connected to it in the way.
How hard is it to get at the blower, and if necessary, replace it? Can I get a service manual PDF online for free somewhere?
Thanks! Sandy
We think we may need to replace the blower, or maybe tighten something up? It doesn't look like the blower itself is loose from its mounting, but I could be wrong. It seems like it will be tricky to even get in there and take a look at it, as there is a panel with wires connected to it in the way.
How hard is it to get at the blower, and if necessary, replace it? Can I get a service manual PDF online for free somewhere?
Thanks! Sandy
#3
. It seems like it will be tricky to even get in there and take a look at it, as there is a panel with wires connected to it in the way.
How hard is it to get at the blower, and if necessary, replace it? Can I get a service manual PDF online for free somewhere?
Thanks! Sandy
How hard is it to get at the blower, and if necessary, replace it? Can I get a service manual PDF online for free somewhere?
Thanks! Sandy
Whenever you move anything with wires, be sure you study or photograph where all wires go, in case some were to come off if wires got taut (which you want to avoid.) That would be a nightmare you do not need.
Other than that, getting out the entire blower assembly from it's side tracks is easy, and it is all pretty self expanatory. Nobody taught me when I did my first one in a trailer about 23 years ago (and many more of those, and in houses, since). They are all basically alike.
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Blower fan wheel is crooked, doesn't spin straight
Thank you for the advice on taking out the blower. We have done that, and it was really easy.
Now that the blower is out, we are able to take a look at things. When I give the fan wheel a spin (the thing that looks like a gerbil cage), it is obviously crooked. Like how a bicycle wheel would spin after you ran into something and knocked it off center. Also, the spindle, or axel, piece seems to have some play in and out. That is, if I am looking down at the thing and the axel is horizontal, I can move it slightly left to right.
Also everything is pretty dirty.
I am wondering if we can take the motor out, clean things up and put it back together and be okay, or if maybe we should replace the motor and/or fan wheel. We really don't have the money to replace things if we can get by without doing so.
As always, any advice is greatly appreciated!
Now that the blower is out, we are able to take a look at things. When I give the fan wheel a spin (the thing that looks like a gerbil cage), it is obviously crooked. Like how a bicycle wheel would spin after you ran into something and knocked it off center. Also, the spindle, or axel, piece seems to have some play in and out. That is, if I am looking down at the thing and the axel is horizontal, I can move it slightly left to right.
Also everything is pretty dirty.
I am wondering if we can take the motor out, clean things up and put it back together and be okay, or if maybe we should replace the motor and/or fan wheel. We really don't have the money to replace things if we can get by without doing so.
As always, any advice is greatly appreciated!
#5
Left to right shaft play is okay. That is called endplay.
Regarding the wobble: Be sure it is not a result of any drifting going on from the end play. If that is not it -there is a certain amount of wobble that is acceptable. But if a lot, you will simply have to make sure motor shaft is not bent (never seen that), or that the blower wheel hole, that slips over the shaft, does not have slop. If it had slop, then when you tighten down the set screw, it would pull it to one side.
Blower wheels do not spin at an exraordinary high speed that causes extreme vibration, normally. They only spin in the range of maybe 17 revs per second.
What you might try to do, is to hold a marker when rotating the wheel so that marker hits on high spot of wobble. Then push the blower in at that point, to see if you can bend it true. But make sure you do not strain the motor mounts!
Regarding the wobble: Be sure it is not a result of any drifting going on from the end play. If that is not it -there is a certain amount of wobble that is acceptable. But if a lot, you will simply have to make sure motor shaft is not bent (never seen that), or that the blower wheel hole, that slips over the shaft, does not have slop. If it had slop, then when you tighten down the set screw, it would pull it to one side.
Blower wheels do not spin at an exraordinary high speed that causes extreme vibration, normally. They only spin in the range of maybe 17 revs per second.
What you might try to do, is to hold a marker when rotating the wheel so that marker hits on high spot of wobble. Then push the blower in at that point, to see if you can bend it true. But make sure you do not strain the motor mounts!
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how do I run the blower while it is out of the furnace?
ecman51 -- thank you for the advice. We tried to separate the motor from the blower wheel, but couldn't get them to come apart, so we decided to put it back together and try bending it back into shape. So I reconnected the motor, then gave the fan a spin -- and now it is almost perfectly aligned. So maybe the thing had just come loose and gotten out of whack. I did the marker thing and it is so close to being straight (maybe 1/8" of difference) that I think we might just leave it as it is.
We would like to turn it on and look at it before we put it all together. Is this advisable? I know we sure would want to keep anything away from the fan as the blades are pretty sharp. Is this worth trying or would we be better off putting it back together first?
Thanks!
We would like to turn it on and look at it before we put it all together. Is this advisable? I know we sure would want to keep anything away from the fan as the blades are pretty sharp. Is this worth trying or would we be better off putting it back together first?
Thanks!
#7
So I reconnected the motor, then gave the fan a spin -- and now it is almost perfectly aligned.
We would like to turn it on and look at it before we put it all together. Is this advisable? I know we sure would want to keep anything away from the fan as the blades are pretty sharp. Is this worth trying or would we be better off putting it back together first?
Thanks!
Thanks!
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clarifying my last post
Sorry about the confusion. We took out the three bolts holding the motor to the housing. The motor and fan were still connected. When we couldn't get those apart, we put the three bolts back. This seems to have gotten it all back in alignment.
Will let you know how this all comes out. Thanks for the help!
Will let you know how this all comes out. Thanks for the help!