Lenox Furnace Replacement?

[BigSing]

We have a Lenox gas forced hot air furnace that is about 10 years old.

The motor had recently stopped working and we had it replaced at a cost of $700.

Our HVAC contractor said that the fan wheel may also need to be replaced as it may have been damaged when the motor was failing. We have recently heard quite a bit of vibration coming from the furnace and the contractor came back and said that the fan wheel needs to be replaced at the cost of $300.

He also gave me the option of replacing the whole furnace with a Gibson at a cost of $1800. He would credit me back the $700 we paid for the motor, plus other discounts.

I have read that furnaces should last between 15 and 20 years so we are deciding whether or not to spend the additional $300 and hopefully we will not have to replace the furnace for another 10 years. Or replace the whole thing now for $1800.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

[HayZee518]

eventually you'll run into fixing what's just been fixed. you can only weld a piece of steel so many times before it doesn't even look like steel anymore. next time before you call in an hvac tech to replace a motor look into grainger supply for a replacement. grainger has baldor, ge, westinghouse, ametek motors at a cost way less than an hvac tech service. I don't see how a squirrel cage fan blower can cost so much {$300} ?? unless its a huge casting.

[HayZee518]

I looked into the grainger site and found a 1202 cfm squirellcage blower with motor for $274.00

[BigSing]

Thanks for the suggestion. I assume that a big part of the cost is the labor that is associated with the install and I am not comfortable doing it myself.

Do you think it makes sense to have the fan replaced instead of replacing the whole furnace. I guess I am hoping that with a new fan the rest of the unit with last another 5-10 years.

[mike6250]

Motors can last 20+ years. Was your 700 dollar motor vari speed? Thats the only way a under 100 dollar motor could cost that much. Also shop around for the blower wheel installed price. It can damage motors if the balance is off. was the motor failed due to bearing prolems?