# Loud noise coming from squirrel cage?



## kcrossley2 (Dec 17, 2006)

I'm having a problem with my 5-year old Goodman HVAC system. It seems to be cooling, but the squirrel cage in the air handler is making a lot of noise. At first, I thought it was the fan motor, but when I shut off the AC and just ran the fan motor by itself it sounded fine. I also checked the red diagnostics LED on the circuit board and it's solid, which I think means there are no system faults. 

I removed the Aprilaire 700 Series humidifier, which is currently off, to check out the evaporator coils and it sounds like there is a loud hiss coming from that section, but I can't tell if it's the squirrel cage or the coils. Also, the coils are not freezing up. The air handler is a Goodman GMH8 series. 

Any thoughts on what this could be?


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## beenthere (Oct 11, 2008)

Might want to make a recording of the sound and put it on youtube and link to it. So we know what your hearing.


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## kcrossley2 (Dec 17, 2006)

I had a trusted Goodman service tech come out today. 

He pulled the squirrel cage out of the air handler and rigged it up so the fan would run outside of the cabinet. The noise is definitely coming from the squirrel cage. He thinks either the fan motor bearings are bad or the blower wheel is out of balance or bent, which is causing it to scrape the squirrel cage at high speeds. He's checking with Goodman to see if the parts are covered under warranty. The unit was installed in April of 2007.

Has anyone seen this type of problem before?


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## kcrossley2 (Dec 17, 2006)

I just found this video online. This is exactly what my air handler sounds like and how to replace the blower wheel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DZQ3sZ3W6s

My service tech said I probably need to replace the motor too. What do you experts think?


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## beenthere (Oct 11, 2008)

You can usually see if its the blower wheel when you have the blower housing out and run the blower. I usually see if I can move the blades while holding the hub seady. If i can, its the wheel, if not, its usually the motor bearing.

Unless you registered it, or have records showing it was installed later then Sept of 2007 its not under warranty.


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## kcrossley2 (Dec 17, 2006)

beenthere said:


> You can usually see if its the blower wheel when you have the blower housing out and run the blower. I usually see if I can move the blades while holding the hub seady. If i can, its the wheel, if not, its usually the motor bearing.
> 
> Unless you registered it, or have records showing it was installed later then Sept of 2007 its not under warranty.


When I moved into our new house in April of 2007, I purchased a 5-year GoodCare warranty directly from Goodman. I gave my agreement number to my service tech today. Shouldn't that count as registering it and validate the 10-year parts warranty?


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## beenthere (Oct 11, 2008)

Not necessarily. But it might.


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