Frigidaire 12,000 btu window A/C- Fan Motor repair or replace?

[dustin92]

So I found a window A/C on facebook marketplace, and I've been looking for a smaller unit to replace my bedroom one (just basically worn out) and it was only $20, the catch being it only cooled for 10 minutes, then made a funny noise and blew warm air. Around here I've seen/gotten several units that have been perfectly fine, but the condenser coils are totally blocked with dust and lint. Nobody services them, just go buy a new one. It turned out to be the case, condenser totally plugged, no air getting through. The unit was shutting off on high pressure. Well, once I saw it I knew it was too big for my bedroom, turns out to be a 12,000 btu digital Frigidaire unit from 2012. Got it home and it's a wonder it worked at all, both the condenser and evaporator were plugged. Cleaned it up and it cools like new.
Only one new problem, I must have gotten some water in the fan motor... The next morning the bearings were growling and it's only gotten worse (the unit is in the kitchen window, I moved another smaller unit to my room) but it cools great. I'm going to try and get some oil in the bearings, if that doesn't help it's either change the bearings or replace the whole motor.
I looked up a replacement and that's nearly out of the question, the cheapest I could find was $83. Any ideas what it might cost to have the bearings replaced? And where I could take it to have that done? I imagine I could probably do it myself, but I don't trust my skills enough to do it without messing something up, and $83 is a lot of money for a $20 (although nice) A/C unit. Any advice is appreciated, as usual!

 

[superocd]

You'd spend almost as much taking the motor to a shop for a bearing job as you would for the new motor. I'd nix that idea. Motor shops tend to only bother with heavy-duty industrial motors anyway.

I'm doubtful that the bearings in the motor failed due to the fact that you cleaned the unit and hosed it down. Possible, but not likely. In theory, those motors are designed to be subjected to some exposure to the elements. If you look straight down into the ventilation grate stamped on the top on the exterior portion of the casing you'll usually see the motor directly below, and you can bet that it is subjected to a considerable amount of moisture during a downpour.

The reality is that most modern window ACs are engineered with low-grade components and a five year lifespan is about the norm. After that, it's not abnormal for different components to fail. I would advocate for replacing the fan motor, but for $83, you're about a third of the way to the cost of a new 12k BTU unit.

I would try looking for a similar unit with maybe a bad control board, bad compressor, etc. and obtain the fan motor from it (after testing, of course). You could do that for cheap or even free. eBay is an option if you haven't checked. I wish I knew of the OEM of the Frigidaire units, it might be Midea. You might be able to get more results if you knew the OEM, and might find the motor for less than $83. Somebody on here might be able to chime in and confirm the OEM of Frigidaire ACs. I know that most of the contemporary Kenmores are rebadged "Frigidaires", from what I've seen at Sears, so you might want to look for dead Kenmore units of similar vintage and BTU range as well.

 

[dustin92]

I think the problem is that the bearings themselves aren't sealed, and the motor housing has a "seal" on each end, but they are mainly just covers- one is rubber but not tight to the shaft, and the other is plastic but has a drain hole underneath and is even less sealed than the other one. It did run smooth and with little to no bearing noise before I cleaned it. I did try to oil the bearings today, hoping to at least quiet it down, which it did for a couple hours, but by this evening it was growling/whining again. I asked my Dad today if he'd be willing to help me replace the bearings, and he said he would. He said it shouldn't be too hard but we will see. Definitely will need to be in the next few days, even though it's supposed to be in the high 80's the next few days. It's loud. I'm going to see if we can get sealed bearings as should have been used in the first place.