I have a Central Gas powered furnace with a separate Air Conditioning unit (outside). In the winter while the unit was heating the house, the hot air from the vents was not coming with much force. Could that be caused by the Blower motor not working properly or at full speed ? Another reason, I remember the unit sounded more noisy when it was running last year - you could hear the motor running. Now that it is summer and really hot, when I turn the thermostat to cool, the cold air from the vents is at very low speed, and there is not much cooling. What could cause this ? Would a bad Blower motor affect both the heating and cooling performance of the unit ? How do I check this. Thanks in advance for any tips.

I have a Central Gas powered furnace with a separate Air Conditioning unit (outside). In the winter while the unit was heating the house, the hot air from the vents was not coming with much force. Could that be caused by the Blower motor not working properly or at full speed ? Another reason, I remember the unit sounded more noisy when it was running last year - you could hear the motor running. Now that it is summer and really hot, when I turn the thermostat to cool, the cold air from the vents is at very low speed, and there is not much cooling. What could cause this ? Would a bad Blower motor affect both the heating and cooling performance of the unit ? How do I check this. Thanks in advance for any tips.
Blowers have multiple speeds and if your is pulley drive & the pulley is adjustable it may be slipping. I would figure your blower is direct drive and motor is dying.

Check your filter, could be plugged.

Check your filter, could be plugged.
I just checked and the Filter is totally clean - it was changed a few weeks ago. In fact it should actually have been a little dirty by now, if the unit was working properly. So maybe like kajun1950 says - the motor could be dying? The unit does work a bit - I checked by turning it on and putting a piece of paper in front of the return ducts and vents and it was getting sucked in front of the return and blowing away from the vents. But after a while the air flow stops. So would this definitely mean the blower motor is shot ? I have to be sure since I have a maintenance contract with my gas utility company for only the furnace and I think they would replace the blower motor under the contract. Thanks.

If you have a maintenance contract get them out there,, they supposed to know what they are doing,

if you have a maintenance contract get them out there,,,,they supposed to know what they are doing,,
Since my contract just covers just the furnace - not the A/C Unit, if it is the Blower motor I will be covered. If it is the A/C unit I will have to call someone else. So just wanted to make sure I can figure out from the symptoms which part may be bad before calling them.

If it does turn out to be the a/c,, will they charge you for coming out?, if you was a expert you wouldn`t need to pay for a contract to keep you equipment working.

The blower motor causes the air to circulate from the plenum through the duct work. Low air means the blower is turning slowly. Check the side of the furnace and see if there is a troubleshooting chart on one side and the wiring diagram on the other. You can bypass the furnace with the AC by wiring the condenser wire direct to the t-stat. If that makes no difference. It's likely the blower or blower circuit.