PISSED OFF at Carrier

[SoFlaDave]

Too many people assume that buying an air conditioner is like buying a car and that if something under warranty breaks, they just get the dealer to fix it free of charge.

For the sake of drilling into everyone that might read this heads, ALWAYS GET AN EXTENDED WARRANTY. They are available for every manufacturer, so if your contractor doesn't mention it ask for . If they can't get you one find another contractor.

[mrestfla]

yes, the labor warranty elapsed. I am pissed off because a fan motor that should last 10 years failed after 2. I bought a Carrier system, paid more so these things wouldn't happen. homeowners expect better products when buying from quality manufacturers. shouldn't they? the blower fan motor inside the garage failed, not from the exterior heat pump. I haven't had the system cleaned, why would this lead to a bad motor? BTW, I live in Florida. I will call the HVAC contractor back for the TESP test. I hope they won't charge me. also, I would like to thank everyone for your help.

[Shophound]

A fan motor could fail after two years if it has to work against crappy ductwork (ECM) or is coupled with a POS capacitor (PSC).

Most blower motors used in residential HVAC rely on air moving over the motor to keep it cool. If the ductwork is restrictive, or the owner uses highly restrictive filters, thr motor can run hot and potentially fail. Heat kills more motors than most anything else.

[beenthere]

yes, the labor warranty elapsed. I am pissed off because a fan motor that should last 10 years failed after 2. I bought a Carrier system, paid more so these things wouldn't happen. homeowners expect better products when buying from quality manufacturers. shouldn't they? the blower fan motor inside the garage failed, not from the exterior heat pump. I haven't had the system cleaned, why would this lead to a bad motor? BTW, I live in Florida. I will call the HVAC contractor back for the TESP test. I hope they won't charge me. also, I would like to thank everyone for your help.

Doesn't matter who the manufacturer is, they all pretty much give the same Limited part warranty. Which means they don't pay labor for the parts replacement. They just provide the part. Which most of the time, they didn't make the part themselves. They bought it from a vender, who won't pay them any labor if it fails either.


The DC motors tend to go out quick if they can't move enough air. Weather the problem is caused by bad duct work, or dirty air filters, or dirty evap coils.

[Mr Bill]

Most blower motors used in residential HVAC rely on air moving over the motor to keep it cool. If the ductwork is restrictive, or the owner uses highly restrictive filters, thr motor can run hot and potentially fail. Heat kills more motors than most anything else.

Some contractors don't address the duct system, sometimes because of limited HO funds, or just don't know to, so the sell the higher end systems with the ECM's as forgiving to a bad duct system. I know this is happening, I sat with my Ruud tech support guy at lunch last week, and he said most all the failures they are seeing in their systems now days, are airflow related.

[mrestfla]

I know this, the house was built in 1995. when I bought the house in Feb/2010 the original system was still working. a Carrier system. the air handler was fine so the blower motor was fine. the heat pump could not cool the air in the summer. so I had the system replaced. the original blower motor lasted 15 years. a brand new blower motor lasted 2 years. something is definately wrong with this picture!

[beenthere]

So is the new system larger then the old system? Are you positive that the old air handler had the original blower motor in it, no way it was replaced before you bought the house.

[BaldLoonie]

That should be a Genteq X13 motor, which despite its 3rd world country of origin, has proven to be a reliable motor. But stuff these days is being made cheaper and in said 3rd world countries since JQP wants always the low price. Being electronic it can be affected by outside factors like voltage surges too. This motor could have ended up in any brand on the market. Most ECMs today are made by Genteq. Carrier stood behind it. If it had happened in the first year, your dealer would have too. Ask has been asked, did he offer you a 10 year labor warranty? Did you ask for one? That's the real issue here. Over 90% of our jobs are protected by an extended policy for just this reason. The warranties are not a profit center like at Best Buy or Sears, they are homeowner protection against the cheap product they wanted built.

[vstech]

I know this, the house was built in 1995. when I bought the house in Feb/2010 the original system was still working. a Carrier system. the air handler was fine so the blower motor was fine. the heat pump could not cool the air in the summer. so I had the system replaced. the original blower motor lasted 15 years. a brand new blower motor lasted 2 years. something is definately wrong with this picture!

Hmm... the original system could not cool the house. but the motor lasted 15 years... the Heat pump could not cool the air, so the system was replaced... possibilities abound here. did the installer connect everything properly? is there a blockage? what filters are in place? what tonnage "system" was installed to your existing ductwork... pipes are not just pipes... they have to be the correct size to flow the air needed for the system ...
motors fail for a reason. blaming the manufacturer is a shortcoming. best to ACTUALLY find the problem. electrical defects usually show up in the first 90 days... for it to have made it 2 years my bet is on external forces degrading performance, or storm/power company problems...
how was the system performing up to the point it failed?
did it fail during a storm of some type?

[mrestfla]

So is the new system larger then the old system? Are you positive that the old air handler had the original blower motor in it, no way it was replaced before you bought the house.

same size, 2.5 ton. yes, original blower motor. the old and new motors were Genteq. the model written on my invoice is Carrier HD or AD 44AR233 fan motor. no additional labor warranty was offered. I did not ask, I guess I made a mistake.

[beenthere]

same size, 2.5 ton. yes, original blower motor. the old and new motors were Genteq. the model written on my invoice is Carrier HD or AD 44AR233 fan motor. no additional labor warranty was offered. I did not ask, I guess I made a mistake.

15 years ago the motor would not have been a Genteq X13.

Its like buying a car in that respect. you have to ask about warranties.

[pacnw]

I think you can be as pissed as you want at Carrier, but it seems more and more like it may be a system issue.

your old motor was most likely a motor that ran at a fixed speed and delivered a fixed amount of air. any air flow restriction had minimal effect on the operation of the motor.

your new motor makes every attempt to maintain a constant air flow, as set on installation. to do this the motor ramps/speeds up and if the restriction is not remedied, eventually blows a safety device inside.

now a possibility is that the module was replaced and not the motor. in this case the module is like a breaker/fuse in your home, to protect what is attached to it.

If you have the motor and module type blower, it could have been double the cost if BOTH went out versus one.

as has been stated, if this was just a bad part from mfr, then you should be fine. However if there exists a restriction, expect the same lifespan if you do not fix the cause.

they will most likely charge you for the test, but it should have been part of the initial sales price and inspection.

how did they size the unit? if they simply put in what was there, how do you know it was sized correctly at that time?

[mrestfla]

interesting, but 95% of homeowners would not know if the contractor is doing the TESP test correctly. I know I wouldn't.