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SOrry--I have been out most of the day, DIalysis then Jungle Jims, Krogers and one of my thrift stores too. Just got back here.
Anyway...NO this motor does NOT have any starting aids. no start cpaacitors, run capacitors or such. A plain--old split-phase motor on a nearly 40 year old oil furnace. The blower dies in 2008, and I put in a new one from Grainger, along with the "fan/limit" switch--it had gotten to where the blower would just run...and run...and run.. The bearings in the blower had gone bad--and I did replace them--but evidently too late. The cage began to "come apart', making a LOT of noise and straining the then-new motor(this motor). SO in December of that year---I put in a Dayton (IIRC) replacement from Grainger. Since then(until a couple of months or so ago..) all was fine.
A few months ago..It began to get a LOT "louder" when it came on, making a kind of "bumping noise". At first..I thought it might be because the blower was not really tight in the furnace(It was not a "perfect fit" for the floor of the furance--but WAS a perfect fit for the opening it goes into). SO I "rigged it", to make it much more stable, and not able to move any. This did NOT help.
THen, a few weeks ago, The burner came on like usual--but i did NOT seem to hear the blower start, and thought I heard a humming noise. The noise stopped, than a minute or less began again. Then, the burner kicked off, since the blower was not runnng , it kicked off on the over-limit switch. Then, I heard the hum again. NOW--I figured I KNEW what was going on.
I went to the basement, checked to see if the blower had "locked up", or gotten stiff, I had turned off the power, just in case. The motor and blower BOTH seemed to turn freely with my hand. The blower did NOT seem in any way to have any "play" n its shaft either. SO, I reapplied power...and the blower took OFF!! I thought at first...maybe I imagined all of this' I turned the power back off--then on again, waiting till the blower had come to a full stop. It started again, and again and again. . Several times, it started every time. So, I closed the blower door, and kind of "forgot about it", figuring maybe i had imagined the whole thing !!
Till 2 nights ago. It did this once again. THIS time..I did NOT turn off the power, and when it tried to start again, and began to hum, I LIGHTLY, spun the motor pulley. Once again, It took off and stayed running. However it DID seem to "bump" to a start", but once there--ran fine. This happened again last night. I spun the blower while it was in protect, and a bit later, the reset clicked the motor back on--and it again bumped to the run mode--and has been there since.
I know the motor is going. I got a NEW one on the way from Ebay, $60 INCLUDING shipping. This is quite cheaper than I can get it at grainger IF they would let me buy one.(The last time I did--i was working for NOrthgate., and they had an account with them ..you all know how that turned out).
But i do NOT really understand..just WHY it seems to be that if the motor "comes to a stop in a certain place" it will NOT start itself, ....BUT if i either spin it from that place it WILL start on its own, or if it is trying and I VERY lightly turn the pulley...it will take off...and the work for a while...before it does this again... It would seem to me if it was a bearing problem--it would NOT be easy to turn...but it IS.
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