Noisy Heat Pump

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S

schirico

0
May 25, 2012
21
Northern New Jersey
Been a while since I've been here, as my pool has been "trouble free" since I started following the advice here more than 2 years ago!!!

I've got an Aquacomfort AC-1250 Heat pump for my inground pool, electric, not gas....and about a week ago I noticed that the fan when on is EXTREMELY LOUD. Sounds like it needs lubrication somewhere...or according to a few searches - bad bearings on the fan.

I can't find out who makes the fan, but if that's all that needs replacing, great - does anyone know if there is a bearing replacement kit, or fan motor replacement kit, or fan replacement kit for this make/model?

thanks in advance!

Steve.
 
Owners manual: http://www.aquacomfort.com/pdf/AquaComfortOwnersManual.pdf

The fan motor should be easily replaceable:
Technical Support Center
520 Hwy. 17 South, Unit F
Surfside Beach, SC 29575
843-808-9028 office
888-475-7443 toll free
866-264-0887 fax
[email protected]

Give them a call they should be able to give you a standard stock number. You could pull the fan and check it for any markings or numbers.
 
Motor is AO Smith part # F48T97D01 - can't find that part using Google or Bing.
AO Smith sold that unit to Regal Beloit, website is. Century Electric Motor - thousands of part numbers, not that one.

I'm calling Century Electric today and Aquacomfort as well.

Motor is: 208-230 v; 60 hz; 1/2 HP; 850 RPM; UF type; 2.8 AMPS
 
Okay the saga continues...

Aquacomfort makes the pool heat pump, but does not service it. most HVAC guys won't look at it....AO Smith makes the fan motor, but sold that business to Century Electric, that part number isn't listed - contacted Century Electric (Regal Beloit), they sub out that part to another company called waterfurnace and they gave me the corresponding part number.

Waterfurnace will not sell the part to me directly - have to go through an HVAC distributor, which they gave me a contact not too far from me, Ryan Inc. Ryan inc. won't sell it to me direct either, they're sending a guy to diagnose ($69.00) and quote what I need, and if I purchase the $69.00 goes towards that.

I'm going to check the company you sent to see what they say.
 
Ouch! I've got the exact same problem on my AC-1250. Can you provide the part number that you got from Waterfurnace? I've got some contacts that might be able to buy the motor for me from a distributor.
 
Here is some additional information for folks that might Google up this thread.

Over the years AquaComfort components would change as they tweaked their designs and changed companies that were manufacturing the units for them. The fan motor and capacitor ("run cap") required will depend on the serial number of a unit.

WaterFurnace was the manufacturer when schirico's and my units were made. (AquaComfort is now doing their own manufacturing.) The motors were made specially by A.O. Smith for WaterFurnace and are not in the A.O. Smith/Century catalog. The run cap should always be changed when a motor is changed, and the run cap also appears to be a WaterFurnace-specific unit.

When I said that I wanted to install my own fan motor, AquaComfort referred me to Medallion Energy (407.786.0000). When AquaComfort changed designs/manufacturer he would buy up leftover parts and now sells them when folks need repair parts. Medallion quoted me $399 for the motor and $79 for the run cap. schirico's cost of $381 looks pretty good. I'm guessing that WaterFurnace is still using the motor in their geothermal heat pumps.

Just for grins I called my local pool store and it turned out they had a motor that had been sitting on their shelf for years. They sold it to me for $299. The run cap (part no. 16P002D06) is available for $22 from HVACPartsAndMore.com.

(WaterFurnace has a dealer locator on their web site. In hindsight I should have worked that angle to see if anybody would sell me the motor direct. It turned out it was a good thing I had bought the motor, however, since the bearings totally failed two days later.)

I was cautioned that because of the aggressive design of the fan blades that any imbalance could cause vibration that would damage the motor bearings. Tree sap and somebody who painted their fan blades were specifically cited as having caused problems. I had some accumulated mung on the edges of my fan blades, so out of basic paranoia I washed the blades with water and a scrub sponge.

I also discovered that one of the locknuts holding the motor to the grill was almost all the way off. I don't know if the loose locknut was a cause or symptom of vibration. If you want to check the tightness of your locknuts the metal cover over the motor just pops off.

You will need an 11/32" socket to remove the motor. I would suggest getting four new 8-32 stainless steel locknuts and (for extra holding) four 8-32 stainless steel star washers. Don't forget to short out both capacitors before starting work.
 

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