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I am mowing my lawn and all of the sudden I here this load squeal over the sound of the mower. I shut the mower down and here the sound coming from my neighbors condenser. I walk over and can tell its coming from the fan motor. I knock on their door and tell them to shut it down. When it shuts down the motor stops right away and does not freewheel like a good motor. They ask if I can check it out so I get some tools and check it out. Fan spins but it was stiff. So I check the cap which is a 35/5. Get 19/2 on the meter. Well it's 6 pm so I can't get a motor now so I put in a turbo 200 which I keep on the truck. I put it all back together and fire it up. It squeals a little and then starts running great! The fan stops squealing and the compressor is almost silent. I have never had a cap quiet a motor like that. I can understand the compressor being quieter but I figured the bearings were shot in the fan motor. Anyone else ever see this happen?
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Hrmm, bad cap causing the motor move at a slower speed messing with the lubrication of the bearing maybe? Getting it back up to speed might redistributed the grease in the bearing? I'm assuming its not a sleeve bearing. You might have gotten to it before it completely ruined the bearing.Originally Posted by qwerty hvac
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Maybe you are on to it. I guess no one else has ever experienced this. The motor is running great now with proper amp draw. He's going to let it go and not change the motor. This will be a good test to see how long it lasts.
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Does the motor freewheel with the new cap? I'm wondering if the bad cap was creating some sort of electrical braking effect similar to the way a tool does when you lay off the trigger. If the cap was leaky I suppose it could be possible...
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If it was stiff before replacing the cap, you will be replacing the motor soon.
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I've had Condenser Fan Motors tighten up like that and breaking them loose
caused them to run another season.
Kinda like a rust build up on the shaft of the motor and bearing and getting the motor up to speed
broke it all loose.
But that usually happens at the first startup of the season.
I agree with CEHS and recommend at the very least the motor and blade replacement.
before it fails and maybe does more damage
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ditto
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I agree it will fail. But I always find them already dead so I guess I was in the right place at the right time. Fan does freewheel nicely now. It will be tested this weekend with the temps expected. I will let you guys know when I have to replace it.
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Sleeve bearings need to get up to over 80% of rated RPM to start the lubrication process. A weak cap will prevent that.
How long the bearing will last, probably until your real busy, and can't get to it.
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In addition to the lubrication issue, the motor may have been running a bit hot with the weak run cap.
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Man a neighbor? I would have just mowed the grass and went inside and turned the TV up.I can hear them now, honey the a/c dude next door was out mowing his yard, and now our a/c is making a loud noise....
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you didnt oil the motor while you had it apart ??
most have 2 plugs to remove if they are sleeve brg
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I had one that was similar but I knew it wasn't gonna last and I had the motor with me so I replaced both
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If there was squealing at one point, that was metal on metal somewhere. Did you check for lateral play in the shaft? Beenthere's explanation may apply in this case, but the motor's days are short.
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After I let it run a bit I did oil it. Still running fine for now.
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not all have oil ports. a lot of newer motors have sealed bearings no oil ports.
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If you found a way to make bad bearings good you have struck oil.
Joking aside my sister had a squalling indoor blower motor once. I pulled it and it was a non serviceable motor. (no oil ports and stamped covers. I pried stamped covers off of sleeve bearings and filled dried packings with zoom spout oil. Months later squalling returned so I popped it out again and filled bearing packing material with STP oil treatment. Three years later they sold the house without a peep out of it.
As long as the bronze is still in the sleeves she'll go. You re-wet the packing with oil so it may be fine. If it was my neighbor I would have them buy a new motor to set on shelf and then ride that pony to death.
Ball bearings would have been done, no more. One of the upsides to them is they can windmill unlike sleeve bearings.
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