dave_21061
Mar 23, 2008, 10:08 PM
A two part question. I have a Trane BWV730A100E1 vertical air handler. Its about 20 years old.
First, my air handler fan stopped running. For a while it would sometimes seem to have a hard time starting - it sounded like it was running weakly or barely running, but once it got going it seemed OK. Sometimes it wouldn't start at all, but if I switched it on and off via the thermostat it would work eventually.
Now it won't start at all. I hear some sort of short click when I turn it on, and I can hear a burst of static on our baby monitor, but it doesn't even sound like its trying to start.
A year ago, a I had a guy fix the same problem. He put in a new fan and I'm pretty sure a new capacitor. Any thoughts on what would cause it to fail so quickly? I think I may have run it for weeks without a filter - I don't even know how I managed that, I must have opened it up to change it and then got distracted! I guess this could kill the fan but I think it was having trouble even before that.
Looking for information online, it seems possible that it is the capacitor that needs to be replaced, or possibly the relay. I think I could replace these. But where do I find these kinds of parts? I'm guessing I won't find them at Lowe's or Home Depot. If anyone knows somewhere in the Baltimore area or just general advice on where to look I'd much appreciate it.
I guess a final question would be - am I crazy not just replacing it at this point. The heat pump was replaced 5 years ago by the prior owner of the house. I would like to replace the air handler but that's a big chunk of money I don't want to spend right now if I can get it to limp along for another year or two. If I did replace the air handler, is it better to replace the heat pump at the same time given that the current one is less than 5 years old. The current heat pump is a Carrier 10 SEER model, probably as cheap as they come as it was replaced by a home warranty company.
Any information and advice is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Dave
First, my air handler fan stopped running. For a while it would sometimes seem to have a hard time starting - it sounded like it was running weakly or barely running, but once it got going it seemed OK. Sometimes it wouldn't start at all, but if I switched it on and off via the thermostat it would work eventually.
Now it won't start at all. I hear some sort of short click when I turn it on, and I can hear a burst of static on our baby monitor, but it doesn't even sound like its trying to start.
A year ago, a I had a guy fix the same problem. He put in a new fan and I'm pretty sure a new capacitor. Any thoughts on what would cause it to fail so quickly? I think I may have run it for weeks without a filter - I don't even know how I managed that, I must have opened it up to change it and then got distracted! I guess this could kill the fan but I think it was having trouble even before that.
Looking for information online, it seems possible that it is the capacitor that needs to be replaced, or possibly the relay. I think I could replace these. But where do I find these kinds of parts? I'm guessing I won't find them at Lowe's or Home Depot. If anyone knows somewhere in the Baltimore area or just general advice on where to look I'd much appreciate it.
I guess a final question would be - am I crazy not just replacing it at this point. The heat pump was replaced 5 years ago by the prior owner of the house. I would like to replace the air handler but that's a big chunk of money I don't want to spend right now if I can get it to limp along for another year or two. If I did replace the air handler, is it better to replace the heat pump at the same time given that the current one is less than 5 years old. The current heat pump is a Carrier 10 SEER model, probably as cheap as they come as it was replaced by a home warranty company.
Any information and advice is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Dave