Forum Discussion

JRMunn's avatar
JRMunn
Explorer
Dec 11, 2020

Heater Motor Squeal

My heater fan motor is starting to squeal, despite the life-time sealed bearing in it. Does anyone have experience in changing a heater fan motor? I tried searching on "heater motor" without success. The rig is a 2004 Sunnybrook Titan 5th wheel and the heater is a 30,000 BTU Atwood Hydroflame model 8531. I expect that this is a fairly common heater across 5th wheel and trailer brands. I looked inside, because it appeared that the job would be straight forward from the parts diagram, and I did manage to pull off and then put back the fan chamber front plate. But the motor is inside the main fan and its shaft has fans both inside and outside of the burner chamber. Space is very tight, there are lots of wires, and I couldn't figure out how to get to the motor screws. Does anyone know if or how this might be fixed? So far, the squeal only starts when air temperature in the fan box is below about 57 deg. F.

JRMunn
  • Endricken's avatar
    Endricken
    Explorer
    Dec 16, 2020
    My 05 Suburban Furnace started squealing in 2018. I just replaced the whole furnace and was pleased to discover the newer version is MUCH quieter.
    Very Happy!
    Don't know if that's true for Atwood...
  • larry_barnhart's avatar
    larry_barnhart
    Explorer
    Dec 13, 2020
    2015 winter we went home for Christmas. In Oct I hit the furnace and the bushing squealed as it had done for 2 first times on startup and no more but this time we were to be gone so a new motor with a bearing was installed. Not easy to remove .

    chevman
  • JRMunn's avatar
    JRMunn
    Explorer
    Dec 12, 2020
    Joppy - This is getting close to home. I have blocked or screened every crack I can find and still get some mice in both the trailer's underside and living space. When I opened the furnace, I found mouse droppings and acorn shells on the floor, which means they have been in the ducts - but nothing in the fan blower. Now, traps seem to keep them under control and mice that do get in are small. But they still get in somewhere.

    JRMunn
  • Joppy's avatar
    Joppy
    Explorer
    Dec 12, 2020
    On my old Alfa Gold the motor did the same thing. So I pulled the heater an found a dead mouse in the squirrel cage fan. Put it back in and it was fine. Still chuckle thinking about that running like the dickens in that fan.
  • JRMunn's avatar
    JRMunn
    Explorer
    Dec 12, 2020
    enblethen - Thank you for the motor number. This helps to confirm my best guess from searching through the many possibilities. I hope to confirm with a trip to the trailer tomorrow before taking the heater apart. While searching the internet, I came across "Bryant manuals" as a source of information.

    JRMunn
  • JRMunn's avatar
    JRMunn
    Explorer
    Dec 12, 2020
    Thanks to garyp4851 for the very helpful and informative video about rv heater repair. Now, having looked around the internet for motors, I think my last question is what motor to buy. I know there is a difference between motors that were available for different heater models covered by the rv heater documents, but that was 16 years ago. Now, the model numbers are different, and maybe the motors. This is the long lead-in to my question of what to buy for a 2004 model 8531 Atwood Hydro Flame furnace?

    JRMunn
  • Lwiddis's avatar
    Lwiddis
    Explorer II
    Dec 11, 2020
    Yes they do, TX. Average service life of the component, item, appliance etc. Sixteen years is a longtime.

About Fifth Wheel Group

19,006 PostsLatest Activity: Jan 24, 2025