dd2812
Jan 20, 2008, 05:51 PM
The blower on my parents Trane XE80 gas furnace stopped working this weekend and a local HVAC company diagnosed the problem as a bad control board. The technician didn't have a board on his truck so he temporarily bypassed the control board and wired the fan to stay on 100% of the time until he returns with a new board this week. I asked the tech about how much the board would cost and he estimated it at between $400 and $700 dollars not including labor.
In meantime I got on line and found I could order the board for $169. I am fairly confident I could replace the board myself. My only concern is not knowing what the tech did to bypass the bad board. Well after examining the control board wiring I am pretty sure I figured out what he did -- looks like he moved the blower's wire from the HEAT-C terminal to the LINE-H terminal -- but in the process I think I may have also found a reason for the board to fail on the first place. I found that the EAC-H terminal (electronic air cleaner) has about a 5 Amp load on it when the schematic clearly puts the limit of the EAC-H terminal at 1 Amp. The 5 Amp load is the combination of a humidifier (.85 A) and a booster fan (4.2 A). Note this HVAC company is the same one that installed the furnace 8 yrs ago so they undoubtedly were the ones who wired the humidifier and booster fan this way. So my questions are (sorry for the long lead in):
(1) Could the apparent overload of the EAC-H terminal have caused the board to fail (even though it worked fine for 8 years)? (If so perhaps the HVAC company should replace the board for free.)
(2) How can I connect the booster fan to the new control board without overloading the board? I've thought about connecting it to the HEAT-H terminal along with the main blower so that they both come on at the same time -- but this would only work for heat. My parents also use the booster fan occasionally with the A/C.
Thanks in advance for some expert opinions/advice!
In meantime I got on line and found I could order the board for $169. I am fairly confident I could replace the board myself. My only concern is not knowing what the tech did to bypass the bad board. Well after examining the control board wiring I am pretty sure I figured out what he did -- looks like he moved the blower's wire from the HEAT-C terminal to the LINE-H terminal -- but in the process I think I may have also found a reason for the board to fail on the first place. I found that the EAC-H terminal (electronic air cleaner) has about a 5 Amp load on it when the schematic clearly puts the limit of the EAC-H terminal at 1 Amp. The 5 Amp load is the combination of a humidifier (.85 A) and a booster fan (4.2 A). Note this HVAC company is the same one that installed the furnace 8 yrs ago so they undoubtedly were the ones who wired the humidifier and booster fan this way. So my questions are (sorry for the long lead in):
(1) Could the apparent overload of the EAC-H terminal have caused the board to fail (even though it worked fine for 8 years)? (If so perhaps the HVAC company should replace the board for free.)
(2) How can I connect the booster fan to the new control board without overloading the board? I've thought about connecting it to the HEAT-H terminal along with the main blower so that they both come on at the same time -- but this would only work for heat. My parents also use the booster fan occasionally with the A/C.
Thanks in advance for some expert opinions/advice!