# Furnace Noises



## a mere housewife (Jan 19, 2012)

This morning I heard our furnace squealing when it kicked on (a thing I had not heard it do before) so turned it off and called a repair person. He oiled (very slightly? he made a point of saying he added only a very small amount of oil) some sort of bearings which were dried out in the 'induction' motor (for it is not the blower motor which is the problem), told me the motor itself would probably need to be replaced at some point (800.00) and that it might still squeal; charged me for a tune up, and straightway, left. He was a very nice service person. He told me to get on their service plan for 30 dollars a month, which will give me two tune ups a year and cover all parts and labor for anything that goes wrong with the ac/heating system. (It sounds like a good deal?)

The furnace is still squealing when it kicks on. It will stop squealing after a couple minutes, but it's a bit disturbing because I don't know if running it is going to make this worse.

Do I need to call the company again and say the issue is not resolved, or is he right that it will go on squealing a bit and I should just ignore it, because nothing more can be done until we replace the motor itself?


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## MarieP (Jan 19, 2012)

It appears you have demons in your furnace, and probably the ones that were sent into the pigs, since they are squealing! You should call your nearest fire-baptized, holiness, revival centre (that's centre, anything spelled "center" will not be adequate!)


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## Scottish Lass (Jan 19, 2012)

You could ask another company over the phone. Describe what's been done and ask if it should still squeal. 

I usually am skeptical of the service plans. I'm better off setting aside the same amount of money as the monthly premium in savings.


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## Herald (Jan 19, 2012)

Heidi,

The technician may be right. When bearings start to go they never get better. They are a wear item. Lubrication can only do so much. You could always call another HVAC company and have them offer a second opinion. The down side of that is another service fee. 

As to the service contract; many HVAC companies offer these. Normally you will spend more money on the service fee than you ever will on actual repairs. $660 a year is a lot of money to spend for peace of mind. Most HVAC repairs will cost far less than $660 UNLESS the unit is old and in poor condition. If you trust your HVAC technician ask him to evaluate your furnace. Oil furnaces typically have more problems than gas furnaces because of soot. Gas furnaces cost less to repair.


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## Marrow Man (Jan 19, 2012)

Herald said:


> $660 a year is a lot of money to spend for peace of mind.



12 x $30 = $360, right?


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## Rich Koster (Jan 19, 2012)

I hope he used synthetic oil, it clings & holds up to heat better. If the bearings are damaged &/or the race, it will keep squealing until it eventually seizes or starts rattling. $800 seems like a lot of money for a motor swap, unless that is mostly for labor because the furnace requires major disassembly to get it out. The motor In my humble opinion should run no more than $300 on a small unit. If it was my furnace, I'd get the part number off of the motor, or from the manual, and do an on line search for a replacement. Maybe someone from your congregation or a friend is handy enough to swap motors for you. I'm not a pro repair person, but I have some experience in maintaining motors in a factory and fixing my own boiler. I did a quick price check for the unit on my furnace. It was $138, but I doubt it's the same since yours is forced hot air.


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## a mere housewife (Jan 19, 2012)

Thank you all so much. Marie, that is no doubt the most rational explanation; and the most reasonable solution is to have Joshua, you, and Rev. Phillips come up here, wearing powdered wigs from the Osteen Corporation, and the 'Louisville delegation' can *smile* while Joshua speaks to the furnace in one of his native tongues. I will, naturally, slowly and solemnly make timpanic noises on my tartinker. I'm sure if Anna and Grace are up for the trip, Grace can accompany me. 

In fact one of those little things happen which sometimes do: I typed this up and left it on the screen for Ruben to look over, in case I said anything overly idiotic (I know nothing about furnaces; and I don't want to presume too much on other people's patience . In the meantime I began to do Other Things, one of which was to notice that the furnace had stopped squealing when it comes on (did the oil just need to work its way around or into the bearings?). But I failed to communicate this to my husband, who kindly posted my query. 

However it seems like even if the squealing has stopped, this is just a temporary state of things, and the decline of the furnace is inevitable? Hence I need to either fork over the 360/yr or begin a fund like Anna (that's so sensible Anna. The advantage I can think of with the service plan is that I'm not left wondering if they did a good job -- presumably they are the ones who wind up spending more of their own resources if they don't?) -- or find someone who can help me for less than 800 dollars, a la Mr. Koster.


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## MarieP (Jan 19, 2012)

a mere housewife said:


> Thank you all so much. Marie, that is no doubt the most rational explanation; and the most reasonable solution is to have Joshua, you, and Rev. Phillips come up here, wearing powdered wigs from the Osteen Corporation, and the 'Louisville delegation' can *smile* while Joshua speaks to the furnace in one of his native tongues. I will, naturally, slowly and solemnly make timpanic noises on my tartinker. I'm sure if Anna and Grace are up for the trip, Grace can accompany me.


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## Scottish Lass (Jan 19, 2012)

If you go with the service plan, just be very, very sure what it covers. Specifically ask about the motor. Ask what it excludes. Assume there's a loophole.

Okay, enough cynicism from me for an hour or so.  

And Grace would love to accompany you in making whatever joyful noise y'all can create!


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## Marrow Man (Jan 19, 2012)

Bill can come too and help with the Joy-see Math (that's Jersey Math for the rest of us).


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## Wayne (Jan 19, 2012)

Annual maintenance of the unit should be entirely sufficient, and would run on the average under 90.00 total, per year.

And yes, that oil did have to work its way down into the bearings. 

All is well. Hear the birds chirping? See the flowers blooming? Ah, the sun rises.


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## a mere housewife (Jan 19, 2012)

Anna, I'm sincerely grateful for your cynicism. And yes, having someone mumble sums in the background that always come out costing me a few hundred dollars more will be extremely helpful . I will wail and shriek maybe, just to round it all out.

(I thought the maintenance plan would be several hundred more at first myself, because I was computing ac and heat separately).

---------- Post added at 10:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:23 PM ----------

Thank you Wayne . I will give it at least a month to run smoothly before rushing into any further decisions. (I did have it serviced in November: we run the fan at night all night -- can that blower motor somehow dry out the induction one? I'm sorry if that's a silly question: I'm just trying to think what may have caused it to malfunction so quickly.)


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## Wayne (Jan 19, 2012)

Take the age of the unit into account. You bought an older house, right?

A motor that is twenty or forty years old might need to be replaced. Time will tell.


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## Herald (Jan 19, 2012)

Marrow Man said:


> Herald said:
> 
> 
> > $660 a year is a lot of money to spend for peace of mind.
> ...



Opps. My bad.


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## MarieP (Jan 20, 2012)

Marrow Man said:


> Bill can come too and help with the Joy-see Math (that's Jersey Math for the rest of us).



On the condition he brings chicken salad and fried oysters, and Butterscotch Krimpets!

Update: Er, I was thinking Rich! Bill needs to bring us Phillips Seafood crab and cheese stuffed pretzels!


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