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TonyBryan · Nov 22, 2006, 06:33 PM

Hello all,

I have no idea of what I am doing, but I have a question that I hope can be answered. I have a Trane XE60 which keeps our house cool in the summer and warm in the winter, but there is a problem... sometimes when the unit kicks on it makes a whining noise ( this for some reason happens in the middle of the night) and either my girlfriend or I get up and have to spin the "squirel cage" (this is what my buddy called it). Once the "cage" is manually spun everything is good. This to me sounds like the motor is going out... or maybe I am wrong. I don't understand why this only happens at night.

Can someone please help me?

esquire1 · Nov 22, 2006, 06:55 PM

Could be the fan going bad. Try oiling it might buy you a few days.When replacing the motor remember to replace the capacitor as well

letmetellu · Nov 22, 2006, 07:56 PM

If you have a motor that has a capacitor starter it is possible the capacitor is bad. To find the capacitor you have to remove the bottom door of the furnace, one the body of the blower you should see a small silver can looking thing with two wires attached. If you find this and want to change it to see if it is you problem here is what you do: Unplug the furnace, use a screwdriver to touch across the two pos that have the wires on them, you may hear a spark and see a flash. Remove the two wires, loosen the clamp that holds it to the blower housing and remove the capacitor. Read the lettering on the side of the capacitor, You are looking for something that will say 4uf 370 or 5uf 440, it could be any number in front of the uf but the main thing is that you want to get a replacement exactly with the same numbers. Put the new capacitor back on to the housing tighten the clamp, replace the wires and plug in the furnace to the power and test. If that was the problem the motor should start in just a second or two. If you don't have a motor with a capacitor and you are going to replace the motor be sure and get one with a capacitor. It will run cheaper. I hope tis helps.

labman · Nov 22, 2006, 09:05 PM

You can do a rough check of a large capacitor with an ohm meter. After discharging it a Let me said, connect the ohm meter across the terminals. It should start with a fairly high reading and climb to off scale. A low constant reading or an open means it is bad.

More likely the whine means a bad bearing. A motor shop may be able to save it.