Air Handler Furnace Blower Wheel Replacement. Troubleshooting loud Air Handler Noise.

My nearly 20 year old Air Handler started making a loud noise and the blower wheel was the culprit. This video shows how to access and remove the blower motor housing and get to the wheel to either clean or replace it as needed.

[@tribounty1392]

Just fixed mine. The inner wheel had spun free of the blades and was grinding. Since tomorrow is a 40 person cook out and it's going to be hot I needed it fixed now. My only option to keep it from free spinning was to get a small flat head screw driver in between each blade and ping the edges of the center wheel over so they couldn't slip past the blades. Works great till the new one is shipped in. Just wanted to put this out there incase anyone is in a pinch

[@danielldonnelly]

Thanks for posting! I thought that's how the impeller came out, but I didn't want to test it in my attic crawl space.

[@carlosquiroz7819]

Great video, mine is making a grinding noise. I suspect the set screw that secured the fan to the motor shaft came loose. I will check for tightness but I hope I can do it without having to take it fully out.

[@Perly53]

Thank you Travis. Great job and easy to follow video. I see my blower wheel and it's not particularly super dirty, but it is pitted and certainly not smooth as a new one. I'm thinking about replacing it (it's not making noise) just to get the maximum efficiency out of it. And then I'm thinking about replacing the blower motor just so I can have a reliable new one and not have to deal with it failing which of course will be on a weekend hot day here in Florida, right? My unit is 2016 outdoor package unit (Ruud). I've just had to replace the condenser fan motor that the bearing failed. So I'm thinking do the blower motor and wheel as preventative maintenance.

[@ContemporaryHome]

I noticed a rattling sound worsening in the past week blowing chunks out through our vents. Upon inspection one of the mounting brackets broke. Basically the housing was being held by just 2 screws. My air handler is installed horizontally. I noticed there’s no ridges for the housing to slide on/off. Furthermore it really doesn’t align nicely with the opening. Shouldn’t the housing insert in the opening or simply just align hovering over the opening? Please chime in. Upon inspection of the wheel. Yes plenty of dirt. Set screw is tight but the wheel hub rattles if I touch it. I’ll clean it but I feel that wheel has reached end of life. After a good cleaning, and reassembly, upon spinning it’s not quiet and wobbles no matter what I do at attempting to align it. Ordered a new wheel.

[@RepairNut]

Hello - I've only worked on my own air handler, but I would think that the fan housing should be centered over the air handler duct hole. However if it has worked for several years as is, I would probably just replace whatever is broken back into the same position. If there are multiple places to place screws that allow you to move the position - then go ahead and try it out, you could always move it back after a test if there are multiple mount locations. Yes even if the wheel looks ok, it could be weak/cracked in areas you can't see that cause your noise. That's what was happening to mine - even though I couldn't see a crack, it was definitely loud & a new wheel cured my noise.

[@ContemporaryHome]

@@RepairNut thanks for replying. The reason I want to pursue this matter, as I noticed the left side of my house has much lower CFM and hence stays warmer. As for the noise, I recommend to all the minute you hear it don’t hesitate. It went from annoying to bad in a few days and now I’m without A/C until the wheel comes in.

[@nickslearningvideos3695]

Thanks. Where can I buy a replacement blower wheel?

[@RepairNut]

I got mine on supplyhouse.com however I just googled the part number and found it there, I don't have a preference on sites to buy from. My old wheel still had the part number label/marking. If you don't have a part number, you could remove your old wheel, measure the length and diameter as well as the diameter of the shaft hole, research that online and find one.

[@nazarettos6987]

How much quieter it got after you replaced it?

[@RepairNut]

It fixed my problem, went back to normal quiet sound.

[@callmebackfriday2]

What is wrong with the old blower wheel? What cause it suddenly goes bad or not align correctly? Thanks in advance.

[@RepairNut]

Normally for a vibration/loud noise you would find a cracked blade or a crack somewhere. I could never find a crack on my removed wheel, but when it operated at full speed it was definitely causing a vibration. Must have had some corrosion or a fatigue crack somewhere. Noise/Vibration went away when I replaced it.

[@callmebackfriday2]

@@RepairNut Hi Travis, thank you so much for your information. I have noise due to set screw is loose and it drops down to the bottom. I am not sure the wheel broken or is out of balance now but I still have to remove it to check and re-align wheel again. This may be good time to replace motor and wheel. American product is amazing, I have this Carrier model Furnace and a/c condensor fan motor still running since house is built in 1989. At that time, it is made in USA. Thanks for the video.