PackerDad
01-23-2008, 02:04 PM
Yesterday my wife and kid get all bundled up and head out the door so that she can drop her off at school and head for her school. I sat myself down and started packing my textbooks into my laptop case, figuring I could get an easy 6-8 hours worth of studying in and get a jump on the new semester.
As I am packing up, I hear a little hum coming from our furnace. This is the same, undersized, POS furnace that has been sucking gas all winter like a thirsty camel after a 2 week hike across the Sahara.
The hum turns into a quiet squeal, which gets louder and louder until it screams and stops. I pull the cover off the furnace, and see that the blower fan has stopped. Grabbing a bamboo skewer, I give the blades a little nudge, and it make half a rotation and stops again...awesome...it's 8:00am and still below zero.
So, I find the furnace manual and try to find something about whether this blower motor can be lubed...nope, it's one of those "lube-free" motors. Well, at this point it is also "motion-free", so I figure what the hell. I unscrew the cowling and unplug the wire harness (thank god it has one) and tip it on it's side so that the shaft is pointing up. I spray a little lube along it so it seeps down, and after a couple shots, it spins without noise.
Can that really be all there is to it? HAHA, yeah right. After putting it back in and turning the heat back on, it works awesome for one heat cycle. Then, the smell of hot oil fills the house, and it siezes up again.
So, by now it is 9:00. Time to call in the professionals. I call our gas place because they also do furnace repairs, and they have been pretty reliable in the past...the service guys are out. I then call the "big" HVAC place in town, they must have some way to fix it since they are the biggest ad in the yellow pages, right? After 2 minutes on the phone with me, the guys says that he has to order the blower motor, which takes 7-10 days. Uhh, sorry buddy, it is too damn cold and I cannot heat my house with spaceheaters. There has to be another option. "Well you can't just put any motor in there.", he says. "It has to be the same part or it won't work." "Bullshit", I say, "It is just a 1/3 HP motor made by GE. All I should have to do is find something comparable and wire it in". "Nope", he says.
After I again insist that there is another option, he refers me to some parts distributor who won't even talk to me about it because I am not a business. However, after 5 minutes, I do get the name of another distributor after attempting to strangle the guy through the phone. The next guy is really nice, but he is at a loss because he also needs a week to get the motor. He is also quite confused as to how I got his number, because he also does not deal with the public directly.
Finally, he suggests calling Grainger. "They have a million different motors, there has to be something they can do." I have seen a Grainger catalog in the past, but never really knew what they were. So I give them a call. After talking with some bonehead for 25 minutes, he has a list of replacement motors narrowed down to 148 possibilities. #-o But he can't narrow it down any further without the right numbers. (I already read him every number on the damn thing)
So I ask the logical question...can't I just bring it in to you and we can match it up. He asks "Is there a Grainger near you?" And I am like..."Uh, yeah, that's kinda how I called you...I used the phone book." He replies, "Oh, well I am actually in BFE, this is a call center, but I can look up their inventory on the computer." :shock:
So, after 3-1/2 hours on the phone with various numb-nuts and dip-shits, I pack up my motor and head into Grainger. The temperature in the house has now dropped 8 degrees, and I figure I will either be coming back with a motor or a asston of spaceheaters to keep my pipes from freezing.
I walk in the door and there are 3 guys working there...well, more like 2 guys and a kid...and of course the kid is the one to help me. I lay it on the counter, and he says it is the 3rd one he has seen in 2 days..."Awesome", I say. "That means you know exactly what I need." "Well yeah, and no...that probably means we are out", he says. Crap.
20 minutes later, I am walking out the door with a new motor, capacitor and mounting bracket. I waste a couple of hours at Menard's and grab groceries before I pick up the kid. (no point in running back in again, the house is already cold)
When I get home, I cut the harness off the old motor and splice the new one into it. I put everything back together, cross my fingers, and vrroooom!
7 phone calls, 3-1/2 hours and 1 bad age stereotype by me later, and the furnace is up and running.
To every parts distributor who told me that I "needed" the factory part...screw you.
To all the repair places that told me I couldn't put in another motor...screw you too.
To the "kid" at Grainger who I (privately) sterotyped as probably being less knowledgeable because he was a good 15 years younger than the other guys...I owe you one.
Here's to you Grainger guy! chugchug:
As I am packing up, I hear a little hum coming from our furnace. This is the same, undersized, POS furnace that has been sucking gas all winter like a thirsty camel after a 2 week hike across the Sahara.
The hum turns into a quiet squeal, which gets louder and louder until it screams and stops. I pull the cover off the furnace, and see that the blower fan has stopped. Grabbing a bamboo skewer, I give the blades a little nudge, and it make half a rotation and stops again...awesome...it's 8:00am and still below zero.
So, I find the furnace manual and try to find something about whether this blower motor can be lubed...nope, it's one of those "lube-free" motors. Well, at this point it is also "motion-free", so I figure what the hell. I unscrew the cowling and unplug the wire harness (thank god it has one) and tip it on it's side so that the shaft is pointing up. I spray a little lube along it so it seeps down, and after a couple shots, it spins without noise.
Can that really be all there is to it? HAHA, yeah right. After putting it back in and turning the heat back on, it works awesome for one heat cycle. Then, the smell of hot oil fills the house, and it siezes up again.
So, by now it is 9:00. Time to call in the professionals. I call our gas place because they also do furnace repairs, and they have been pretty reliable in the past...the service guys are out. I then call the "big" HVAC place in town, they must have some way to fix it since they are the biggest ad in the yellow pages, right? After 2 minutes on the phone with me, the guys says that he has to order the blower motor, which takes 7-10 days. Uhh, sorry buddy, it is too damn cold and I cannot heat my house with spaceheaters. There has to be another option. "Well you can't just put any motor in there.", he says. "It has to be the same part or it won't work." "Bullshit", I say, "It is just a 1/3 HP motor made by GE. All I should have to do is find something comparable and wire it in". "Nope", he says.
After I again insist that there is another option, he refers me to some parts distributor who won't even talk to me about it because I am not a business. However, after 5 minutes, I do get the name of another distributor after attempting to strangle the guy through the phone. The next guy is really nice, but he is at a loss because he also needs a week to get the motor. He is also quite confused as to how I got his number, because he also does not deal with the public directly.
Finally, he suggests calling Grainger. "They have a million different motors, there has to be something they can do." I have seen a Grainger catalog in the past, but never really knew what they were. So I give them a call. After talking with some bonehead for 25 minutes, he has a list of replacement motors narrowed down to 148 possibilities. #-o But he can't narrow it down any further without the right numbers. (I already read him every number on the damn thing)
So I ask the logical question...can't I just bring it in to you and we can match it up. He asks "Is there a Grainger near you?" And I am like..."Uh, yeah, that's kinda how I called you...I used the phone book." He replies, "Oh, well I am actually in BFE, this is a call center, but I can look up their inventory on the computer." :shock:
So, after 3-1/2 hours on the phone with various numb-nuts and dip-shits, I pack up my motor and head into Grainger. The temperature in the house has now dropped 8 degrees, and I figure I will either be coming back with a motor or a asston of spaceheaters to keep my pipes from freezing.
I walk in the door and there are 3 guys working there...well, more like 2 guys and a kid...and of course the kid is the one to help me. I lay it on the counter, and he says it is the 3rd one he has seen in 2 days..."Awesome", I say. "That means you know exactly what I need." "Well yeah, and no...that probably means we are out", he says. Crap.
20 minutes later, I am walking out the door with a new motor, capacitor and mounting bracket. I waste a couple of hours at Menard's and grab groceries before I pick up the kid. (no point in running back in again, the house is already cold)
When I get home, I cut the harness off the old motor and splice the new one into it. I put everything back together, cross my fingers, and vrroooom!
7 phone calls, 3-1/2 hours and 1 bad age stereotype by me later, and the furnace is up and running.
To every parts distributor who told me that I "needed" the factory part...screw you.
To all the repair places that told me I couldn't put in another motor...screw you too.
To the "kid" at Grainger who I (privately) sterotyped as probably being less knowledgeable because he was a good 15 years younger than the other guys...I owe you one.
Here's to you Grainger guy! chugchug: