Troubleshooting a Furnace Inducer Motor (The 4 Most Common Problems in 2021)
Channel: Fox Family Heating and Air Conditioning
Date: 2020-12-05

Troubleshooting a Furnace Inducer Motor will walk you step by step to see if you have a bad inducer motor.  The 4 most common problems that make inducer motors fail are discussed in this video.  HVAC training videos like this will help you diagnose common problems with the gas furnace.

When a furnace begins a new cycle, the inducer motor is the first thing you should see kick on.  120 volts is applied through the wires coming from the control board.  This starts the inducer motor for up to 60 seconds before anything else even happens.  It’s a safety feature that creates a negative pressure or draft which purges the heat exchanger of any poisonous gasses, namely the biproducts of combustion.  It makes the air inside the heat hollow tubes of the heat exchanger cleaner when the flame kicks on.  When we have cleaner air inside the heat exchanger at the time of combustion the efficiency of the furnace increases.

The 4 reasons an inducer motor can fail are:
1. The shaft of the inducer motor could be seized up
2. The inducer motor could have an open winding
3. The capacitor could be bad, (If it has one)
4. If it starts making loud or odd noises, like rattling noise, a clanking noise, chattering, pinging, shaking, a wobbling noise

Because many inducer motors are nearly impossible to rebuild, an entirely new unit must be purchased in most cases when one wears out. One of the exceptions to this is the occasional Carrier or Bryant units.

During installation of the inducer motor, we need to make sure to either replace the gasket, (usually comes with the new motor), or make a gasket with high temp silicone. Once installed, a good technician will test the system for proper operation to make sure there are no other issues with the furnace.

So, just to recap, inducer motors pull the flame through the heat exchanger and vent the exhaust through the roof. In order to determine failure of an inducer motor, we need to verify the proper voltage is being sent to it. If the motor has proper voltage, the capacitor tests good, and is not turning on, the motor is bad.  If it’s making a lot of noise, the homeowner should know the part is working but is on borrowed time.

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0:00 Intro
0:40 Disclaimer
1:23 Sequence of events
2:00 The inducer motor
3:00 How to troubleshoot the inducer motor
5:16 What to do next
6:25 Final steps
8:26 Recap

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→ Disclaimer
Portions of stock footage of products was gathered from multiple sources including, manufactures, fellow creators and various other sources.  HousecallPro compensates Fox Family should you like what you see in your free demo and sign up with them for 30 days.