Air handler rumbling - http://www.hvacmechanic.com/ Forums
Original message
| Madpoodle
 |  "Air handler rumbling"
, posted Fri 11 Jul 06:06  
LOL, looks like the week for AC issues for me..
American Standard system:
COndenser:Allegiance 14, Mo 7A4048100A0
AH TWE049E13FB0:
Came home Sat, handler making weird howling noise. Figured filters dirty, opened it up, not real bad but pulled inspection panel off and found some dirt on evap. Shop vacuum'd it, new filters, same noise. Decided to go outside, lo n behold,condenser fan froze. Sunday had rescue motor installed while I hunt for the replacement motor (825 RPM 2 spd for an American Standard) since I am being quoted 708.00 for an OEM... PLUS 160 for a contactor..
Anywho, Wed this week the air handler developed a rumble when running. Goes away as the blower speed increases, comes back as it slows down and stops. Opened up panel again do not see anything, rumble gets no better when panel open.
Suggestions?
Confused in the South :)
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Replies:
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| Freon
| "Re(1):Air handler rumbling" , posted Sat 12 Jul 16:57
Open the air handler door. Try and wiggle the blower wheel (squirrel cage) up/down, right/left. If the motor shaft moves you may have a bearing issue. If it seems solid look for any small (1/2"x1/2") pieces of metal on the floor of the blower compartment. If you find any then close the door and with your hand on the closed door, have someone at the 'stat turn it from FAN Auto to FAN ON. See if you feel any significant vibration as the blower comes up to speed. If yes, you may have a balancing issue.
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| | Madpoodle
| "Re(2):Air handler rumbling" , posted Sun 13 Jul 16:08:
Interesting day yesterday. Reading around here the past few days, I decided to go ahead and clean the evaporator and the condensor coils.In the meantime, the air handler quit making noise.
Went by the local A/C supply shop, picked up some foaming coil cleaner (non-acidic) and some Simple Green. Yesterday, I opened up the air handler, checked the motor for play again, still none, and then pulled the paneLs off the evaporator. With a bottle sprayer, I started soaking the evaporator with a 50% simple green mixture. Letting it sit a while, I sprayed it again. Took me about three applications before it started flowing easily through the coils. After that I sprayed them down with some fresh water to rinse them off, then headed outside while it dried.
Removing the sides of the condenser, I could see tons of lawn debris stuck in the fins. I sprayed it down heavily with the coil cleaner, waited about 5 minutes per the instructions, then started rinsing them down with a garden hose. AMAZING the amount of dirt that rolled out of there..
Reassembly of the condenser went fairly well, other than a couple sheet metal nicks ;) Went inside, reassembled the evaporator panels and put the enclosure panels on, then fired it up..
No more rumble, the condenser runs quieter, and the air flow is way more than before.. Total time invested: 3 hrs. Total materials: approx. 15 bucks..
Air handler still not rumbling today, just stuck a thermometer next to the thermostat to test it (it's accurate) and the system seems to run less.
Thank you to those of you who have shared you knowledge here on the board. I doubt I would have tackled this project without your help.
Confused in the South :)
[this message was edited by Madpoodle on Sun 13 Jul 16:08] |
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