matsam

Two votes now for the motor getting rebuilt-- looks like I will try to find a place on Monday! Thanks all, for the advice! -Mat

Thanks for the reply, Tom! I think I'd prefer to replace the motor entirely, I couldn't find my model at Graingers, but there were a couple similar GE ones, notably missing the welded-on brackets that my model has. The unit they have is also a wider diameter (5 5/8), though I don't know if that is crucial. My cage seems like it could handle that size well enough. The shaft diameter seems pretty key, but I haven't measured mine. If the shaft diameter matches up, are there any specific electric parameters I need to be aware of? Any other parameters as I try to find a 'good-enough' replacement? The one I'm looking at on Grainger has these specs: Direct Drive Blower Motor, Permanent Split Capacitor, Open Air-Over, 1/4 HP, Nameplate RPM 1075, Voltage 115, Full Load Amps 4.2, 60 Hz, 1 Phase They seem pretty similar to mine, but maybe I'm missing some crucial point here. Assuming I can find a way to mount it to my cage, will it be as simple as wiring up the white/black/red cables as on my current setup, and getting the capacitor in place? Thanks!

I have an Apollo Hydroheat system that has never worked very well, but this might be in part due to poor ductwork-- several rooms of my 1500sqft townhome can barely feel any airflow from the vents when the fan is running. Anyhow, now the motor on my unit appears to be dying. When it turns on, I can hear it humming, and often it tries to spin the blower, before it grinds again to a halt, still humming, trying to make it turn. The first few times it happened, i manually spun the fan and it then resumed operation as normal. I got the run capacitor checked, and it is within normal limits, and the guy at store said the motor was bad. I then took the unit to several HVAC vendors in town, and all said i have nothing that small here. The final guy I took the motor to actually called up his supplier, who said that because Apollo was out of business, it would be impossible to replace, and that there wasn't any proper substitute for this motor. In part, it seems they thought that the built-in bracket on the motor would be hard to match. In examining the motor and blower, it seems as though a larger motor would fit in squirrel cage, and that the cage has holes for mounting a different kind of bracket, if need be. Therefore, my question is--- should I try a different motor model in my unit? How can I be sure the electricity requirements are acceptable? Are electricity, bracket-mounting, and size of motor the 3 main concerns? Here are the details of my current motor: Make: GE Model: 5KCP29JK4850S (the # 4850 is also stamped on the unit elsewhere) V. 115, RPM 1075, Hz. 60, Amps 4.06, Hp 1/4, Cap. 10.0mfd/370V, Ph.1 Diameter of motor is 5", diameter of the "hole" of the squirrel cage is 8", or so. If this unit seems to be non-replaceable, can anyone advise just how much of my unit will need to be replaced? Can I just replace the cage/blower/fan, or will I have to do more of that because of the electric requirements? Other parts in this system in include a Grundfos unit, and Taco pump, and condensor coils (i think?). I saw a rubber tube coming out of the motor, and squirted some WD-40 in there, hoping to help things, but that didn't seem to do much. The fan seems to turn easily when the motor is shut off. Thanks in advance for any replies! I have several pictures of the unit if those would facilitate things. -Mat Click to Enlarge 76.1 KB