Flat Tires and Furnaces

On my way home from church Sunday, I noticed I had a very low tire. I aired it up before driving the rest of the way home. On Tuesday my son & I went out for supper (our power was out), a round trip of about 30 miles. On Wednesday, I was getting ready to go to the Wednesday night prayer service, and my son said he'd noticed the tire was low. He drove to the nearest station (about 8 miles one way), and aired the tire up. It was so low, I decided I didn't want to drive into church at night, so I just planned to go to the shop on Thursday morning to get it fixed.

On Wednesday evening, our furnace blower decided to stop. Mike & I went downstairs, and I held the flashlight while he pumped in the oil. Flipped the switch, and the blower kicked right in. About 11:00 pm, it quit again. Mike pulled the motor, and decided we must have a bad bearing. He couldn't fix it, wanted me to get parts.

I went to the auto shop and got my tire fixed. It had a horseshoe nail in it. Then I went to my sister's and she & her husband recommended a heating & cooling shop. My brother-in-law thought that the motor was shot, and I operated on that premise and bought a new motor. I had also to buy a new pulley, because Mike bent the other one when pulling it off. Got it home, Mike installed it, and it was turning the blower in the wrong direction. The instructions seemed to indicate that switching the incoming wires would switch the polarity of the motor, and that was verified when we called the shop. He switched the wires. It still ran backwards. I called the shop and said, "Send us a technician." He said he had a man working not too far from us, and would send him out. Later he called and said there was something else we could do. Mike, based on what he had seen when installing the motor, wasn't quite sure what he was talking about, and besides, he was already stressed out - his health is not very good - and said just to send the tech on out. It seemed that there were wires inside the motor housing that were reversed, and of course, we didn't see them. The tech got it fixed up, and now we have heat. The tech's services cost more than the motor & pulley together.

End of another looooong day.

(Originally posted January 4, 2007)