Can washer vibrations damage a Coleman furnace?
Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 4:19 pm
We have a Coleman furnace (Model DGAE080CDK) that was installed in 2007. It sits right next to the washing machine, with only a thin wall separating them. Although we've reinforced the floor so that the washer doesn't shake the house nearly as much as before, we didn't get that done until last year.
Recently, we had to get the blower and the inducer motors replaced, to the tune of $800. We didn't know that the inducer motor was bad from the day we bought the house--we just figured that was the normal sound it made, but a tech told us that there was a problem with a bearing which made it run so loud. The new one runs much more quietly.
We take good care of the furnace, replacing filters monthly (though I have no idea why the previous techs we hired didn't notice the loud inducer motor).
So I don't understand why a furnace that's only five and a half years old and well cared for needed two major, expensive repairs. I asked if the recent power outage might have caused the problem, but they said no--it was a mechanical, not electrical problem in both parts. The techs we've hired keep telling us that the washer wouldn't harm anything, but they don't live in a MH and therefore have no idea just how much the washer used to shake the whole house...let alone a machine sitting less than a foot away from it.
Are these guys full of baloney, or are Coleman furnaces really so poorly-built that they start having major problems this soon?
Recently, we had to get the blower and the inducer motors replaced, to the tune of $800. We didn't know that the inducer motor was bad from the day we bought the house--we just figured that was the normal sound it made, but a tech told us that there was a problem with a bearing which made it run so loud. The new one runs much more quietly.
We take good care of the furnace, replacing filters monthly (though I have no idea why the previous techs we hired didn't notice the loud inducer motor).
So I don't understand why a furnace that's only five and a half years old and well cared for needed two major, expensive repairs. I asked if the recent power outage might have caused the problem, but they said no--it was a mechanical, not electrical problem in both parts. The techs we've hired keep telling us that the washer wouldn't harm anything, but they don't live in a MH and therefore have no idea just how much the washer used to shake the whole house...let alone a machine sitting less than a foot away from it.
Are these guys full of baloney, or are Coleman furnaces really so poorly-built that they start having major problems this soon?