My house has a Trane XR90 natural gas furnace (model TUY080R9V3W1). The blower inducer motor continues to get louder each season - when the house was inspected this was noted as an issue.

Doing some research, it appears the original motor is no longer manufactured, so Trane has introduced (very pricey) kits to replace - see Variable Speed 92% Furnace Draft Inducer for Trane and American Standard.

I'd rather not spend $1k+ on the repair, so looking for guidance on extending the life of the existing motor, I've found a couple things:

• Thermistor replacement - http://www.doityourself.com/forum/ai...e-motor.html#b
• Magnet re-position - trane xv90 inducer fix

The general consensus seems that these are well built motors.
Anyone else out there have experience with this issue? Any other general advice while I have the inducer motor out of the furnace? I'm extremely comfortable with electronics, soldering, multi-meter, etc.

Detailed part numbers list
Trane BLW00732
Trane C341445P01
Fasco 70005833
GE ECM Motor
Fasco Part 8767-4220
GE Part 5SME44JG2002E
Specifictions - 50/60 Hz, 1.3A, 5200 RPM, 1/15 HP

 

Welcome to the forums.

There were problems with that inducer series. The replacement from Trane is not just the inducer..... it's a new control board, pressure switch, inducer and wiring harness.

I don't know of any way of extending the life of that old motor.

There is some hope for the larger blower motors that the link you left included.... not the inducer. The second link discussed magnets that became unglued. I'm not sure the motor would even run if they came unglued.

My forum partner, Houston, may have more to add.

 

Thanks a ton for responding - I really appreciate your assessment.

I did notice the Trane replacement is a whole new control board, pressure switch, wiring, etc. Sucks a whole new board is needed, but if there isn't anything I can do - I suppose I'll just wait for it to fail entirely - no use in wasting time/effort in something that can't be fixed. $1K for preventative maintenance and less startup noise doesn't sound reasonable to me.

 

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Ummm. The odds are pretty good that the motor will fail completely when you want the furnace to work badly.

From your description, I'd agree that the part is waiting to fail.

I'd seriously consider replacing the motor before it fails, or at a minimum have part replacement well researched so you know where to buy it and how long it will take to get.

 

I have this same furnace, and had one or two inducer motors replaced under my extended warranty. When that ran out and the motor failed again (got really noisy) I decided to have a look at repairing it myself. Long story short, this is a nice design for a inducer motor - and it works great and should last a long time IF you replace the unsealed bearings with sealed bearings. That is the only problem with the motor. The factory used an unsealed bearing which is exposed to water from the combustion gasses. They are guaranteed to fail. The good news is the parts to repair the motor cost about $6.00. The bad news is it is a fairly involved process.
To repair, you need to drill off the plastic at the center of the blower wheel to expose the motor shaft. Then using two of the holes opposite each other in the plastic wheel as guides, drill two small holes and tap them to 4-40 or 6-32 thread. Next make a "puller" out of a small piece of steel. Think steering wheel puller (just google it). This is basically what you are building. If you can picture what I am talking about, this is not a big deal. Basically, you attach the steel "puller" to the blower wheel, and then with a hole tapped in the center, over the motor shaft, screw in another screw - say 10-32, to pull the wheel off. The wheel comes off pretty easily this way. You can NOT pry it off and expect it to ever run true again. Once the wheel is off, you need to dissemble the rest of the motor. This requires some soldering. Nothing difficult if you know how to solder. Once apart, replace both bearings with high quality sealed bearings and reassemble. I fill the tapped holes with silicone so they don't rust. If I have to do this again, just tap out the silicone. I have repaired several motors this way and they all run nice and quiet now. (I bought some used bad motors to experiment with - and they all work fine after rebuilding)
Bottom line is for a few hours work to figure out how to repair it, then build the tool and do it, I turned a $1000 bill into a $6 bill. Way worth it in my book and I have zero fear of a failure now.

The other problem to watch for is water dripping onto the control board from a plugged up inducer drain. Make sure this is not happening. I went so far as to take my controller board and mount it inside a plastic baggy so any future water leak will not kill the board. This is also easy to do and will cost you one size large zip lock bag. Far less than the $600 or so for a new controller.

I probably should not have had to do all that work on a furnace, but I really like the two stage idea and it does save a lot of gas. This is a good furnace if you get these two design problems fixed.

And for the record, I am a software developer and shade tree mechanic on my own cars. I am not any sort of HVAC tech.

 

diyforall

Sounds like a great fix!
Could you please share where you got the bearings from and a part number if possible?
Thanks.........