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GGman · Jan 8, 2009, 06:46 PM

Soot in the inductor fan and at the opening to the 2nd xchanger where the draft inductor mounts. It was a humid summer so it may have moved/loosen the soot.

Reggie18 · Jan 8, 2009, 06:47 PM

Yeah its starting to sound like there is a bloccage... you shouldn't have soot there

GGman · Jan 8, 2009, 06:52 PM

Okay I will tear it apart tomorrow/Sat and hope to get the xchanger out so I can take a look for breaks then clean the exchanger. Suspect preivous owner never did any maintence on it based on other things in the house. Thx for the moment.

Reggie18 · Jan 8, 2009, 06:54 PM

Sounds good keep me posted

GGman · Jan 17, 2009, 06:22 PM

Reggie,

There was some crap between heat xchangers found a small hole in the plastic where draft motor connect. Cleaned the secondary xchanger by takingout the inserts. Nothing really there. Is it possible that I have bad pressure switch. It is new one out of the box. I am running out of ideas short of buying a new furnace. I guess I will try to find a local shop to buy a manometer to measure the vac pressure. Any thoughts?

Reggie18 · Jan 18, 2009, 07:24 PM

Before changing the furnace check your venting. Check length and number of elbows 45 are considered elbows in this case. Ill check the charts for length tomorrow but you should not have more than 6 elbows on 2 inch pipe.

This hole was where exactly? Between the exchanger and the inducer blower?

GGman · Jan 18, 2009, 09:41 PM

Reggie
The venting should not be an issue. The furance used to work with same vent. This is not a new install. Here how the vent goes 2 in. for 2 feet then 3 inch pipe to the just before the outside wall reduces back down to 2 inch. The 3 inch pipe section is 25 feet long with 4 elbows and the last section of 2 inch has two as well. I have a quick way to test your theory that it is the vent. I will follow up with another post with the results. As well I have a clear tube to make a homemade manometer to really see if I am lacking the 1.3 in wc.
The hole was in the plastic top side centre. There is a square corner that is formed for the hole that draft inducer attaches. The pastic is somewhat eaten away on the inside top side where the hole was formed. I did fix the hole by the way. I do not want to spend too much money in an 10 year old furnace. Been told that the furnace is only worth about 750 new wholesale about 3k installed or so. Would just like this winter out of it. I will post the results of my vent and pressure test. I will remove the draft motor to ensure I have a good seal. Thks of the help by the way.

GGman · Jan 18, 2009, 10:17 PM

Only got about 1.1in wc definitely not over 1 1/4 in wc to be near 1.3. The draft inducer motor was hot to the touch. I think I read somewhere that a bad Cap will affect the rpm of the fan. If I find I will post back here.

Reggie18 · Jan 19, 2009, 08:57 PM

You your venting is fine... umm... you have a low wc reading but no reason for it... if the motor is hot is is forcing. Wow quite the dilemma!

GGman · Jan 19, 2009, 10:13 PM

Yeah it may seem to be forcing. Need to measure Amps to the motor. Stated 0.75 on the motor. If that is fine I need to measure it with a separate 110 power source to ensure that the control switch is not causing some phase shifting(affect rpm of motor). Plus I will double check my seal where the motor mounts to the heat xchanger for air leaks. There is two much air getting in there or the motor is not spinning fast enough. One or the other.

GGman · Jan 31, 2009, 03:37 PM

Did all the tests. The amps are well below the 0.75. No difference on sperate power source. The seal is fine to heat exchanger. Had it out again and filled it with water to check for leaks. There is none. Tested the fan, removed from the furnace no problem creating the 1.3 in wc had to slightly restrict incoming air. Tested all the way to full restriction. No problem. Replace blower on the furnace and remove the exhaust vent. Created the 1.3 no problem. Place the drain t on the blower and failed 1.3(flue part still off) t is clear. Hence the conculsiuon that too much air is getting to the blower hence not able to produce 1.3 in wc. Now to find out why!
Question is there some sort of restriction that should be in place that is no longer in the exchanger erroded etc. Maybe part of the debrise I remove when cleaning the exchanger.

mygirlsdad77 · Jan 31, 2009, 04:04 PM

Your inducer is not pulling enough vacuum for the pressure switch. So you have a bad blower, a restriction in either vent or combustion air, blockage in drain hoses, or blockage in heat exchanger(csused by the soot. By the way there should be no soot at all, this makes me think that your heat exchanger is plugged.) I don't really see any need to replace a ten year old rheem. They are (for the most part) a very good furnace. I think you would actually save money at this point by having a tech in to locate the problem.

What are the two green and one orange light on the board doing. What is one of the green lights flashing, is it flashing twice, telling you that the pressure switch is open. This really should be a simple fix(if it weren't for the soot). Please let me know what you think. I Really hope this can be solved without replacing furnace.

GGman · Jan 31, 2009, 04:14 PM

Intake and out vents are not blocked. No blockage in the exchanger. Had it completely apart clean the secondary exhanger as well. Have two blower motors a new one and a old one both fail to meet 1.3 wc. I would really like to solve it as well. 2700 dollars for the replacement plus install costs. BTW the drains are clear I can blow in them and water will come out of the p trap into the side pump( need to pump condense up and out as there is no floor drain. Any thoughts or tests I can try so I can at least narrow it down beforeI call a tech. Do not want to waste my money or their time on something I can do myself. Should the blower be drawing 0.75 amps as stated on the plate.

stan301 · Jan 31, 2009, 04:40 PM

Concord 90+ I keep getting condensation between inducer and pressure switch hose

greghvacguy · Jan 31, 2009, 04:41 PM

On the reem inducer there should have been a restrictor plate on the back where the inducer goes to the heatexchanger (I think this furance had one)
The amps should be below .75
Still sounds like there is something going on with the heatexchanger.
Have you tried to run it with the intake and exhaust off.
Just for thought is the house in a negative pressure try to run it with the windows open and door.
What have you done for heat. This post started Dec 12 If you wait any longer it will be warmer.
Just call in the pros. You have spent more $$$$ temp. heating the house.:confused::confused:

GGman · Jan 31, 2009, 04:52 PM

This sound right or what I have concluded. There is no restriction at all at the moment. You are right it soon will be warm, but this is not my only source of heat. My usual heating guy went out of business and a couple of other places wanted close to 200 dollars for the service call and could not come for 2 weeks. Thought I give on here a try. The intake is elbow in length not the problem. Taken off the vent that is not the problemeven cut in two to check for blockage. Water heater is right beside and there is piped in air from outside and it is not blocked. So the added restriction is the only thing that make sense based on what I have seen and the tests I have done.

Originally Posted by greghvacguy

On the reem inducer there should have been a restrictor plate on the back where the inducer goes to the heatexchanger (I think this furance had one)
the amps should be below .75
still sounds like there is something going on with the heatexchanger.
Have you tried to run it with the intake and exhaust off.
Just for thought is the house in a negitive presure try to run it with the windows open and door.
What have you done for heat. this post started Dec 12 If you wait any longer it will be warmer.
Just call in the pros. you have spent more $$$$ temp. heating the house.:confused::confused:

mygirlsdad77 · Jan 31, 2009, 06:21 PM

Are we talking about a rheem, or reem furnace. Im thinking of rheem/ruud. Please let me know. If it's a rheem, the bottom pressure switch will be a .4, and the top will be either .8, 1.11, 1.3, 1.5 depending on size of furnace. You say you have the 1.3. I have run into problems with rheem changing pressure switch recommendation. Have seen furnaces that came with 1.3, and even 1.5 but when it comes time to replace pressure switch, I call in and give model and serial number, and they send me a 1.11. Maybe call rheem back and see what they have to say. I think you may be able to just install a 1.11 pressure switch. This is pure speculation, do not take this advice to your lawyers..

If the furnace always worked with the 1.3 pressure swith(can you look on the old pressure switch, and it will tell what vacuum it was) then it should work now, meaning you have a definite problem somewhere. I think you have located the problem enough to help the heat tech solve the problem. But they will come in a do all of the test over just to make sure for themselves. It really is a cut and dry process. And they should be able to locate problem fairly quickly.

GGman · Jan 31, 2009, 07:08 PM

Thanks all for the help to everyone. greghvacguy is right from what I can tell. Knowing there is no restriction on flue, the only way to get proper vacuum is by restricting the air into the blower. Laws of Fluid mechs. Did a simple test of restricting and works fine. Will go to my HVAC shopon Monday and get a restrictor that greghvacguy is talking about. The service guy I had must be useful as to not have seen that when he check out the system before the heating season. Ah the world of the good the bad and the ulgy.

mygirlsdad77 · Jan 31, 2009, 07:18 PM

Please let us know what they say. Curious about this restrictor plate. Im not only here to give advice, but to learn also, and this sounds like something I should know about for future reference.

GGman · Jan 31, 2009, 07:42 PM

Will do. My dad used to be in the HVAC business so I really hate to call a tech( if you know what I mean). If it is beyond my ablities, sure no problem call in the pros. I however went the Engineering route. This has been a learning lesson for me as well. Like most things stupid simple things are usually the cause and all questions are easy if you know the answer.