AboutJ Cook Expertise With 25+ years experience, I am familiar with residential, commercial, and industrial HVAC equipment including but not limited to boilers, chillers, reciprocating and screw compressors. I am trained in all manners of control wiring.
Experience I currently have three HVAC licenses and Refrigeration license by the State of North Carolina. I have been in this field for over twenty years. I have been a service technician for a contractor and also worked at a state college in the repair and maintenance of steam lines and equipment. I am currently the Building Maintenance Superintendent for a municipality.
Question Hi, I spotted your response to another question about a buzzing draft inducer motor, and wanted to add some detail about my situation.
I have a Goodman GSMS080-4, and a few times over the past several weeks, including last week when we were on vacation and it was 2 below =8-O , the draft inducer motor has caused the furnace to stop working.
When it gets into the problem state, it makes that same sort of buzzing sound at startup the other fellow was describing, and the motor doesn't even twitch in the slightest when it gets power and starts to buzz. I can press a pencil eraser on the end of the motor shaft and give it a bit of a spin, but that doesn't cause the motor to start, it just sits there buzzing, so it doesn't seem like it's jammed on a broken motor-cooling fan blade.
When it gets into the problem state, it's usually after frequent runs, but I can't say for certain if it's heat-related - the motor gets warm to the touch, but never really hot - about 105 degrees at the hottest part when I've checked it during operation.
I can usually reset things and get it working again by switching off the furnace's power, waiting a while, and then switching it back on again. Once the draft inducer starts, everything else follows on in ordinary sequence.
Does this sound like a problem with the draft inducer motor itself? That's my suspicion, but I'm not familiar enough with these mechanisms to be sure if it might be some other electrical or electronic piece, and I want to be at least reasonably sure before spending scarce (unemployment) money on parts for this dang furnace.
Thanks for any insights you can offer.
Answer With the motor buzzing, it is getting power, although you could verify this with a volt meter to ensure it is getting full operating power. If so, I have to believe the motor itself is the problem if it will freely rotate without power on it. The windings appear to be damaged in the motor and a new one should take care of the problem. I would save the old one for an emergency as you know when cooled down at least it may get you through a cold night. Thanks J
