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Relying on noise to find furnace problems let me down hard
I always trusted my ear to tell what was wrong with a furnace. Last month, a unit had a strange hum, and I said it needed a new blower motor. I got the part and went to put it in. When I opened it up, the capacitor was swollen and broken. The motor was okay. I wasted a trip and looked bad. Now I always test with my multimeter first, even if the sound seems clear. It keeps me from making mistakes. What's your go-to step when you first look at a noisy appliance?
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iriscoleman6mo ago
My old boss used to say a funny sound was just the appliance's way of asking for help. Turns out it was asking for a new capacitor while I was busy ordering a whole motor. So much for being a good listener, I guess my ears are just big liars. I'm totally with you on breaking out the multimeter first now, because that hum was probably just laughing at me the whole time.
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kelly.robin6mo ago
Big liars" is right, ears totally trick you. Been there too, now my multimeter is my best friend on every call.
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