I had a really, really positive experience with United HVAC. I called customer support and they pointed me to the correct replacement blower/ECM for 14 year-old TRANE Air/Heat unit.
It came in a day and a half, no shipping costs. Yes, the motor was not padded, but I had no problems with it. It was delivered by Fed-Ex.
They had an extensive list of YouTube videos, that I found essential, such as how to reverse polarity on the fan rotation. It would be nice if they could wire it in the directions the customer needs. But at least they showed how to correct the directions in a simple manner.
They need to provide how to get the old blower unit out of the squirrel cage (which mine was plastic, and 14 years old, so I didn't want to man handle it too much). You don't want to break the housing. It was very hard to remove, as we were on the roof in 110 degrees. Ended up using oil and a long metal punch with a hammer.
I put the "Cool" control wire back on the same tab as before, and though the fan turned on it was lack luster. I called their tech support, and again, very very responsive and helpful. She sent out a diagram to my phone right away. So the tab on the ECM changed from 3 (original) to 4 (new). Note: it said 3 ton cool on table 4, mine was 5 ton (doesn't matter). Also, it showed 115 volts, but my unit is 230 volt. It was a reference only.
Next, I found no advice on why the fan appeared to work great up on the roof (careful because it will suck up lighter tools), but at the intake in the house, very little. By the way, ChatGPT (5.0 at the time) was very helpful though they missed the next advice as well.
The next bit of advice was, the unit had to be closed up in order to build enough negative pressure across the evaporative coil.
As soon as we put all the panels back in, the unit worked great.
Now, the warranty is only 2 years.
If your goal is maximum longevity, stick with Genteq OEM ( the original product). $$$$
👉 If your goal is value and support, United is perfectly fine (especially since they’ll help you over the phone if you run into programming quirks).
Genteq OEM doesn't have a residential website. They don't sell to home owners. You have to go through other third party site. The unit won't be pre-programmed for your system. No tech support.
Now the HVAC companies said $3,500 to replace my blower. (Of course they would using $1,300 blower and include the housing squirrel cage, which was unnecessary ).
My son and I replace it for $350 and 6 hours on the roof, (Phoenix in August). The removal of the blower from the housing was hard (as we were on the roof, and the housing/motor are big and heavy for a ladder. The reversal of the fan polarity required supplies to reconnect the wires. My unit didn't come with a wiring diagram. I had to ask for it. No where was there advice about the lack luster air flow in the house when the unit is open (obvious in retrospect ). Close the unit up. duh
Now, was this worth $3,150? Absolutely. The problem with the HVAC folks is they charge for service calls. One place charge $150 another $79. Mind you, by the time I got to the competitive bids, they hardly needed to diagnose anything, but they won't give you a price without a service visit.
I understand the Hvac guys are up there in brutal conditions, but $3,500 was excessive. The unit is 14 years old and I'm only going to get a few more years out of it anyway. Why spend that much money? Put it towards a new unit. (Buy during cooler weather and wait for a sale, yeah?) In 2-3 years I'll update you on the saga of my replacement unit.
5SME39SXL013A X-13 FM17 1HP 230VAC FURNACE BLOWER MOTOR
FM17 = specifications for my particular unit.
My original unit number: 4WCC3060A1000AA
