[rockfan4]

I have a zoned HVAC system, pretty simple, one zone for the main floor and another for the basement. During this recent cold snap I noticed the basement was warm, much warmer than the thermostat is set and in fact warmer than the main floor. So I looked and the damper motor isn't moving, none of them are. This stupid house is only 6 years old, I can't believe they're dead already. So I bought one new damper motor to replace the basement damper, and I figured I'd replace the two for the main floor later. I got it Friday and installed it today, and it works as designed. But it turns out the design is stupid. Not only is it energized when the upper floor is calling for heat, it's energized when everything is off. Yup, energized basically 24/7. They only draw 8 watts, but that's still dumb.

I looked at the manual for the zone controller, and it will run a 3 wire damper motor, power open and power close. I lose the fail safe of the dampers all opening when they lose power, but on the other hand if they only run several times a day rather than being powered constantly, they're going to last a lot longer, hopefully longer than 6 years. I guess I should have mentioned they're Honeywell dampers, and there's a company that makes a kit to use Belimo motors on the Honeywell dampers. By kit, I mean they have a shaft extension that makes the shaft longer so the Belimo motor can grab it. They charge an extra $25 for that adapter, seems to me there has to be a less expensive source.

What I'm looking for is a 1/2 or 5/8 diameter rod, with a 5/16 hole in the end, and a set screw or something similar to clamp the damper shaft, about 1 1/2 or 2 inches long. Google has failed me so far.

And check your dampers!