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general electric motor, direct drive, 5uf cap

First check:
when heat exchanger reached temp, the relay clicked but the blower fan just hummed.
The bearings seem OK as a slight push causes a rotation that continues for some time.
Also, such a slight push causes it to run fine for the cycle.

I pulled the blower, vacuumed the dust and oiled both plugged bearings. The fan rotated very freely with a slight flick. Mechanically it seems fine.

I replaced the 5uf capacitor with a new one of same value and it self-started several times, though it did seem a little labored.

The next day, it was back to just humming on 'start'.

I replaced the capacitor with a 10uf size and noticed a much stronger start 'grunt' and this seems to be doing OK.

Will replacing the original 5uf with a 10uf cause issues, dangers?

Since the bearings seem to be freewheeling just fine which indicates to me little friction, what else could be causing the hard starting?

[JackT]

Can you move the motor shaft sideways at all? It sounds to me like you have a bad bearing in your motor. I don't recommend increasing the capacitor up to a 10 mfd. This is just a temporary repair and won't last and could also cause it to over heat. If you have a amperage meter you need to check to see what you are drawing and compare it to the motor rating.

[thumbs]

Can you move the motor shaft sideways at all? It sounds to me like you have a bad bearing in your motor. I don't recommend increasing the capacitor up to a 10 mfd. This is just a temporary repair and won't last and could also cause it to over heat. If you have a amperage meter you need to check to see what you are drawing and compare it to the motor rating.

The shaft moves sideways slightly, but no more than a new motor.

Don't have an ac ammeter to test that.. guess another item for my wishlist.