Changing Out Your Furnace Blower Motor

If the blower in your furnace is not working anymore, the furnace blower motor could be busted. You can pretty easily replace the blower motor by yourself, it isn’t too hard. You do need to follow directions and have a lot of patience though. It’s not too hard, but it ain’t easy! Make sure that power is getting to the blower. If this is so, and the blower still doesn’t turn, then try to push it a bit manually, perhaps something is simply stuck in there. If it spins with no problems, then you will most likely have a bum motor.

First, you will need to remove the old motor. To do this, first turn the power off to your furnace. Next you will need to open the cover to the furnace. Disconnect any wires going to the motor from the furnace. Take note of where the wires are connected to-you will need this later when you reconnect it!

Now, take a look inside and try to find the screws which are holding the blower onto the furnace. You may need to look all around for these as they can be in quite awkward positions. Most likely though, they are inside the uppermost flange of the blower’s bracket. Towards the front of the blower. You may have to remove some other pieces prior to getting in far enough to unscrew the motor.

After removing all of the screws, slide out the blower assembly. Usually these are on a sliding track and should come out easily, if you need to force it, you have probably missed a screw. Take note of how they come out on the track because putting them back in is much more difficult.

Mark on the new assembly where the wires will be attached. Remove the screws which are holding on the bracket to the motor. Then, loosen the screw in the blower wheel hub. Put this whole thing over something which lets the motor hang free. If you lightly tap the shaft with a small hammer, the motor should drop out of the wheel. You may need to spray it with lubricant or turn it with pliers to get it to come out if it seems stuck.

After you have removed the old motor, you are ready to replace it with a new one. Mount the new one onto the blower and tighten the screws. Now install this new one in the same spot as the old one!