6 years on, your video just inspired me to not pay $1100+ to one of the 3 HVAC companies, and just do this myself. DIY and its communities are great and ever present! Thank you good friend!
This video was exactly what I needed! Clear, concise, and extremely helpful. I was able to replace my damper motor in about 15 minutes and save a couple hundred dollars at the same time. Thank you!
Excellent video. Saved me $300 and I completed the job in 20 minutes. One quick comment. Since I did not have a hole in my duct, I used the actuator alignment pin hole and a good flashlight to see if the damper was open or closed. Once I had the damper open everything lined up perfectly. Excellent video, very much appreciated. Thanks again, Chris
You just saved me 1200. The AC company my home warranty firm sent to my house to find out why my AC wasn't working on the 2nd floor wanted 600 per to replace them. You are a lifesaver!
Man i wanted to write to you personally and say THANK YOU! I had the exact same issue with the exact same part and had it not been for your video (which was very detailed!) I would have ended up paying a crooked technician about $1000 bucks for this same exact repair. You saved me $900 bucks. Thank you!
Thanks for the helpful video. My HVAC company wanted $300 to replace the damper motor. I got the part from SupplyHouse.com for $82.95 plus $6.95 shipping and had the part in two days. Installation was a breeze. My replacement part, M847D-ZONE did not include the hex key and set screw. I have an Allen wrench set and used the set screw from the broken unit.
This was a very good video. They wanted to charge me 395.00 to replace my old one. I paid 88.50 from amazon and replaced it myself. I live in Reedy fork and this is an ongoing problem. I am just glad I found this video.
Thank you! Excellent video, I replaced my damper in about 15 mins thanks to this video. An extra thanks for the direct replacement part number. BTW I was able to see the damper position when open via the damper mounting hole, no need to open the duct.
Wow! Nice video! I thought I had to replace the entire damper assembly; didn’t realize you can just replace the motor. I also wanted to thank for telling me the damper is normally in closed position. Thank you so much! 😊
Thank you sir. You are a champ! I had 2 techs who quoted me $900 and $600 to replace one of these dampers that costs $100 on Amazon. Ii took me 15 mins to replace it after watching this video. I understand people gotta make a profit but what these guys are charging is boderline unethical.
Thanks for the video. I called a 2 heat and air companies, need one could figure out the problem. From the RU-vid video, I was able to fix the problem myself.
Great video bud Im an hvac tech and they sending me to change one out tomorrow, I had never done it or seen it done Im glad I found you’re video bud thankyou so much .
Thank you for the Video! I had a tech come out and install the part, after the installation the second floor was getting real warm, after watching the dampeners and monitoring airflow I realized when he installed it open was closed and closed was open. After watching your video I fixed the issue. Thanks again
Very helpful video. I was completely prepared climbing into the attic on a very hot day. Took more time getting to the actual damper that it did replacing the motor. Thanks for sharing.
Great video that super helpful so thanks for making it!!! My valve was stuck shut and the AC repair guy wanted between $500-$600 to do what you did. I found the part on Amazon for $100 and will be changing it myself this weekend.
Thank you! I just had a tech out and told me this was the issue. So he unhooked it completely just temporarily. So I don’t have control of the downstairs zone. But it’s now freezing downstairs. They’re working up a price to replace the motor. He said “it’s not gonna be cheap” but I’m pretty handy so I’m gonna see what they say and do it myself anyway.
Very illustrative and well filmed video. Basically, I checked all the comments posted here and I would like to add some points that I found useful when replacing the motor on ARD damper. As the damper is a power open-spring close system, once the old motor wiring is disconnected, the damper blade must immediately go to the open position. Check that the set screw is pointing to the open position on the label, ensuring that the damper blade is in the open position. Therefore, when installing the new motor, the damper will already be in an open position. The only thing left is to connect the wires. Regarding wiring all you need is to connect two wires : Common (M1) and 24Vac. M1 on the damper to M1 (common) on the control panel and M6 on the damper to the M6 (NO - Normally Open) on the control. The instruction manual is simple, but explains how to replace and check the operation of the engine later. The package no longer includes the Allen key (Hex).
Thank you for this video! Replacing the same model damper motor in my house. I'll use the long needle nose pliers to keep the damper open when installing.
thanks for the video. I actually had my furnace stop working the other day. For a couple days it seemed something was wrong. I would put the heat on and my apartment would start to warm up but then never got to where I wanted it. So I would crank up the thermostat a bit more. Results were intermittent. So I thought I better check the furnace. The thermostat was set higher than the actual temperature but the furnace was not working. I turned the main switch off, just like a light switch, then turned it on, I heard a funny almost wheezing noise coming from this round unit attached to the flew. It appeared to be connected to the damper. I'm not an expert on any of these things but years ago I had some experiences which taught me the names of the different parts and structures. Anyway I told my landlady and said I would call the plumber who I got to know a few years ago when he was here about 5 times to fix other issues with the furnace. Sure enough it was the damper motor that wasn't working and it stopped the entire furnace from running. The temps would be going down below freezing that night so we needed to get it fixed. When the plumber came he didn't have the part so he disabled the damper motor altogether so that the furnace would run. We confirmed it would shut off when the thermostat hit the setting. There was no real danger he said, it's just the furnace would not be as efficient. Anyway just another story of how 1 small thing can prevent the entire heating structure from operating.
Always turn power off, because if the life 24v touches the metal, you'll short the fuse in the air handler or burn the transformer. besides that very informative video.
@@origtex Wow, good thing he didn't have the 3rd one in his van or I would have been out another $350. He wanted to come back but I cancelled the appt. I will do it myself.
Thanks lot , excellent video with all details explained very well !! The AC guy charge 400$ to get problem fixed, now I can buy the part to get my old M847D1004 replaced by myself.
Good vid. In Houston it gets hot and we have a 2 thermo system. I just got to figure out which one it is. One is easy to get to the other will be a pain for a 6ft 5in guy. But anyway I am doing this once the part comes in. GREAT VID.
Now that was interesting. So I don’t need to use same motor, I can up grade. I replaced the Honeywell control board two years ago with the newest revision. This house was built in 2003 with a two thermostat damper system. One upstairs & one downstairs. One of the dampers for downstairs is always open. This system has been driving us nuts. We also have a make up air duct work. Not good for Houston in the summer. It also has a by pass recirculating duct with a weighted arm so it will self balance. So as I understand how it works. Funny thing, not one AC tech said they could find the controller, Honeywell doesn’t make it any more. My wife the sleuth found it in an hr. in Minneapolis Minnesota. Had to go around world calling service centers that said the same thing. My wife some how got a hold of a service manager in Minneapolis. We had it shipped to Grainger under our company name & got it in 3 days. We work out of our house so that helped a bit for taxes. Just so happens when I was a locksmith in Minneapolis Honeywell was one of my accounts and the service manager remembered me. I was making desk & file cabinet keys for his department. We talked for a bit. When we go up to Minnesota we’ll go out for a beer. Thanks
@coolezum this actuator is for the normally open damper. That said, when the system is turned off, the damper is opened by its spring, if it doesn't, something else is wrong with the damper. So there is no need to hold with pliers
Great Job on the Video. I just had to replaced in my house at $350 each. I wish I had found this first. Question, in another video, it stated that M1 was the hot and M6 the common.
Brian, I saw the same SupplyHouse video and it's wrong. If you check any image of this actuator online, you will clearly see that M1 is common and M6 is 24 Vac (hot).
I was able to install this in under 15 mins. Thanks to your clear instructions! I have a concern, mine does not go all the way down to zero and stops at 3 but the closed light turns on. Why would that be? In your video, I see the indicator goes all the way down till zero and then the light turns full red as closed.
This was very informative and nicely done video. Thanks Andrew. A followup question if you could answer - I have a damper control that has 3 settings, all way open, partially open and all way closed. Hoping it would be similar work to replace. If you have any more guidance to it, that would be awesome. On to find where the dampers are in this new home. :)
If your duct is completely closed off (no slot to put your hand thru), how can you determine valve location? Open? Closed? It seems that this is an important step when assembling the actuator to the valve shaft. Any tips other than cutting a slot in the duct piping would be appreciated. Thanks! Great video BTW.
Hi Tommy. Some actuators have a small lever either at the top (between the motor & the actuator), or on the opposite side of the actuator that you can move around manually. Check that out and let me know if anything is accessible without having to cut a slit in the duct!
Great video! So how’d you determine before you purchased the damper that your spring was good? Is a spring able to close a damper when motor is bad? Do you know a part number for the spring? Is it as easy to install? Can a sprung damper be controlled with a power-close and powered-open motor? Anybody??
Checkthisjunkout if your problem is the damper is closed (not blowing cool air or very mild) when the cool is on, the zone light on the zone board is green (it turns red when the zone board gives a closed signal), in this case, yr zone board is fine and is sending power to the motor and telling it to open the damper, but it the motor is not working or the damper is stuck. You can manually turn the damper open by turning the bolt, you can find it hidden in the back. now you can survive the time before you replace it.
finixtree Yu thanks. Yeah I have a damper stuck open. I wonder if the spring is still any good, since I haven’t been able to observe it opening the damper since motor doesn’t close it. The other damper has an issue not being able to close completely and shut off flow while the air handler is running. (If it closes before the AHU gets going, it can do it.)
Is Damper supposed to close when Furnace turns on? Common sense is telling me it should be open to force air upstairs when the furnace is on but then again I'm not HVAC certified.
For anyone watching this you dont have to cut a hole in supply duct like the hack did in this video. You can see the position of the damper by looking at the position of the damper through the little 1/4 inch hole with the plastic insert.
Good video! However, there is a longer Allen screw that comes with the replacement unit. This video shows why I use them, whenever possible. Ease of tightening/loosening.
Great Video. One question. Is Damper supposed to close when Furnace turns on? Common sense is telling me it should be open to force air upstairs when the furnace is on but then again I'm not HVAC certified.
My house which I bought a year ago has 3 damper motors and the one that controls the airflow to the master bedroom must be wide open and makes that room and bathroom extremely hot. I am not able to see the brand and model number on the malfunctioning damper motor but the other two seem to be the Honeywell M847D-1004 type. Is it safe to assume that the bad motor can be replaced by the Honeywell M847D-Zone or M847D-1004 one? When the heater starts I see the back side of the bad motor spinning. Does this indicate that the springs inside the motor are bad and unable to open/close the damper? Any suggestions?
Great video, I currently have a problem on mine where they are normally closed and should spring open when AC is turned on. Problem is that they sometimes don't open and they cause back pressure and the system sees back pressure and starts sweating in the attic causing water damage. Can I replace the normally closed to normally open dampers with the exact same wiring?
I don't have the ability to open the duct work to verify that the flap is open as I install the damper motor. Can you see when the damper is open through the alignment pin hole? In theory, if it's open, you should be able to see the flap through the hole.
Hi, can someone please confirm this for me. When installing the Damper motor to the shaft which open/close the flap inside the duct ......do you make sure the flap is open and tighten the screw? Thanks in advance!
I have the exact same question. It's seemed that NO ONE has the answer except that you need to cut up the flex duct and feel the damper plate with your hand.
@@usahoangsatruongsa hi, someone else in different video had confirmed that you tighten the allen screw while the Flap is in open position. You can stick your arm in to feel for the Flap or i did my way and stick my phone in and snap a picture.....then i took the marker and marked on the shaft the opening position. The way the Damper Motor works is the Spring loaded tension keep the Flap open, the 24V motor close the Flap on command. Hope it help.
Thanks for the very informative video sir. Anyway, correct me if im wrong, just some clarification, so this actuator is power close/spring open, right? Purpose of the motor is to close the damper, purpose of the spring is to open the damper. Where is the spring located, is it also in this actuator or in the damper? TIA