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I've gone through 2 blower motors since I purchased the home 3 yrs ago. I never have an issue with the blower when the AC runs; but it keeps dying in the winter with the furnace. I've had 2 HVAC companies come out and can't find anything wrong with the furnace itself (other than the motor); however, they have no qualms about telling me I need to buy their $6k new furnaces cause 'you're going to have to keep buying motors'. What could possibly be wrong? I think the furnace is from 2000. Possibly a Goodman. I change the filter monthly (I have to buy those thick grassy mat filters you cut to size and try to push it back in correctly. It's a ridiculous setup.) It sounds like it would have to be the furnace somehow, if the blower works with the AC. I do have lot of dust and debris on my vents-not sure what that means. Help!

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Lots of dust and debris on the vents means your air filters pass dirt. 2" pleated MERV 7-8 are good if your system will handle thicker media. 1" pleated are OK but may be more restrictive. In my region, specialty filter supply houses are the best place to purchase filters. They will sell retail at a fair price, and if you need a nonstandard size they will make a custom fit for a small fee.

High heat causes motor insulation to fail prematurely. If the motor windings are burning out frequently during heating season and not cooling season, the cause is probably that the high heat is worse during the heating season when the blower is delivering hot air.

I can think of four possible causes:

  1. The blower capacitor is weak causing the motor to overheat (a good tech would usually replace both the motor and the capacitor after a motor failure).

  2. The motor is undersized. The HP and RPM of the motor must match the fan. If someone replaced the blower motor with an incorrect unit on the first go-around, then new motors that size will continue failing. Certain Goodman units have a blower that requires an uncommon lower RPM. On this unit, the typical 1075 RPM 1/2 HP motor is not an acceptable replacement and will fail. Checking the motor amperage against the nameplate would expose this problem.

  3. The air temperature from the furnace is too hot.

  4. The voltage supplied to the blower exceeds the motor nameplate rating by more than 10%.

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  • I found out that it's my blower fan and not my blower motor which went bad twice before. Sorry. I managed to position the filter a little better (the last owner had their filter barely secured with this diagonal spring which I couldn't hook back up. Also bought another filter to try. I just got a new H2O tank and weirdly, the furnace seems to be better. Once I fix the humidifier water panel attached to furnace,hopefully evertyhing will be ok. Not sure how all or any is connected but hope it works. Also I'm using those return air filters in some rooms. Advise against it or not??Got air purifier
    – Nina
    Dec 22, 2015 at 4:19

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