Fan repair

Price of a new fan. ...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson | mens | | Analog Innovations | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | San Tan Valley, AZ 85142 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at

If its an older fan ( Like the all metal grey GE window fans) then it might be worth while to rebuild it like I did. Was fun making bobins for the coils and winding them all on one form ;)

An ok reference 'Electric Motor Repair' by Robert Rosenberg Wish he went into torque an speed calculations.

Cheers

Once, in my lifetime, I rebuilt a 1/2 hp blower motor. Thenceforth I hire it done. Recently had a ceiling fan require "push start". Replaced it ;-) ...Jim Thompson

I will wait till someone with electronic experience makes a post.

Andy

The first thing to do is see if the bearings are replaceable. My fan's weren't. It simply proved cheaper to replace the fan than attempt replacing the motor assembly. (It was about 15 years old.) ...Jim Thompson

IME bearings that were that far gone do not make a full recovery. Got a gazillion in our Hammond organ where the previous owner skipped the lube sessions several years in a row until the thing would not even start up anymore. After spending over 20h on it the organ works. But it requires up to three start attempts and occasionally breaks into a wee squeal on the first two attempts.

Sure it wasn't just a failed capacitor? Those are often easy to change.

Naaaah! Ceiling fans should coast forever. This one would stop after

And it was that handy-dandy Chinese crimped together sheet metal :-( ...Jim Thompson

Yup, then it's really gone. But sometimes it's just dust, dog hair or cat hair that got in. Or a spider or other bug.

Twice a year I climb up with a ladder to clean the big ceiling fan. It is amazing what collects up there.

Young buck to old buck: Thou shalt not be so cheap :-)

Our ceiling fan is one of the top-quality deals from the previous owners. It is well over 20 years old and runs at least 4000h per year.

Nope. Took it down, disassembled as much as I could, blew it out with the compressor... just cheap babbitt bearings with no lubricating method, yet it _did_ last 15 years.

I do that about once a month.

Lowe's variety, looked "purty" ;-)

For lifetime, Hunter is best, but sometimes they don't pass SWMBO's decorator standards ;-) ...Jim Thompson

So what are we looking at here ? A ceiling fan, a desk fan, pedestal fan, exhaust fan etc. etc. ? Is a capacitor run or shaded pole?

Bearings are good, shaft spins freely.

Andy

Price of a new fan.

It might be.

Are there white rectangular shaped capacitors ?

I am familiar with the can type, I recall seeing a lot of blue ones with black writing.

Motor does not smell bad.

This might be the markings of a capacitor.

Thanks.

M-16 01

DE 3 FU

If you are buying, you can send a check.

:-)

Thanks.

I do not understand those terms.

Fan is a pedestal type. Windmere and 82M5 is on a sticker on the motor housing.

Capacitors normally do not wave wattages stated on there. Best is to try to sketch up a wiring diagram. If one end of this goes directly to a winding and nothing else then it could be a cap. But some fans have a dual cap where a switch turns on either one or both, for three speeds.

You should be able to measure the cap with a multimeter. No DC conductivity. If the meter doesn't have a uF range you can use the highest ohms range and alternate the leads across the removed cap. You should see a quick dip to low ohms and then retraction to infinite ohms.

Maybe the OP can take some good pictures showing the wiring and parts and provide a link so we can see what he is working with.

tm

If you're so damned smart, why aren't you asking this crap on news:sci.electronics.repair?

Gold star to you.

Will post some pictures shortly.

I am not clear how you want me to check.

I have a volt meter with Ac, dc, and only a continuity check beep.

Andy