electric motor oil

There are oils which are intended for use with fractional-HP motor sleeve bearings, although many 5W or other light-duty oils are suitable. Definitely not gear lube.

If the motor does have sleeve bearings (probably does) there may be marks on the end bells to indicate where the oil wick *windows* are located, or marks to indicate to indicate which direction loads should be applied to avoid the oil windows, if the blower utilizes a drive belt. Normally, motors equipped with ball bearings are marked as such on the data tag/label, and ball bearings typically can't be lubricated on light-duty motors. If the blower is direct-drive (no belt) then the markings aren't as significant (pointed up if present prevents the stopped shaft from resting on the least amount of bearing surface available.

Seasonal use motors can present problems while sitting unused for long periods, such as the oil drying out/creeping away from the oil wicks from the accumulated dust from the previous season.. so generally, a better time to do preventive maintenance is before the season of use begins.

Used motors of unknown previous use and/or age may have dried out oil wicks or oil that's turned waxy from age. Adding excessive lubrication can cause other problems.

-- Cheers, WB .............

3-IN-ONE oil. Blue can - SAE 20

-- Boris

Not gear oil, at least not hypoid gear oil. Not 3 in 1 either, because it's vegetable based and turns to varnish. I'd vote for normal engine oil.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

I've used this for years on just about anything that needed it, including my furnace blower motor, which is now 15 years old. The extendable spout is quite handy.

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That will teach you to listn to a repair person. He probably had a

1/4 motor that he wanted to sell, it's not often that a mfgr will put a 1/3 hp motor in something that could get by with a 1/4 hp motor, they're not nearly a dumb as they sometimes appear. ! use 20W motor oil in a squeeze oil can to lube my blower motor. I was able to get some small tubing into the lube holes at both ends of the motor and bring them up to where its convenient for me to reach without having to move any part of the motor assemb;y. This is a belt drive blower so MUCH easier to work on. I try to oil it at the beginning and midponts of both the heating and cooling seasons, 4x per year. Present motor has been in for 10+ years, the original motor lasted at least 25 years, probably 35 years.

I use the teles-oil version by GC. I often lubricate ordinary fans with that very useful spout. Some motors could work well with a heavier oil of non detergent sae 30 .

some furnace fans have adjustable belt speed, but be careful not to make it go too fast overheating the motor. You can either feel the motor heat, and or measure current.

Greg

amdx wrote in news:e2a05$4ff6f648$18d67c20$ snipped-for-privacy@KNOLOGY.NET:

Typically too thin. How about electric motor oil?:

Doug White

are there any brands of oil such at this that don't come in a completely shitty, drippy, leaking plastic container?

I no longer use 3-in-1 due to the shitty plastic sieves they come in.

Cydrome Leader wrote in news:ju1h4f$sgs$1 @reader1.panix.com:

completely

I bought mine can when they were metal, and haven't had an issue. I only use a half dozen drops a year.

Unless you have a time machine, that's probably not an option for most.

Doug White

(...)

Advise purchase a bottle of Triflow:

The screw-on cap eliminates the nasty drips. And it is a terrific oil, too.

--Winston

Please advise me.

What kind of oil should I use for a 1/3 hp electric motor?

The motor bearings have oil ports.

Can't I just use regular automotive motor oil? Would gear oil be better?

***Its worth bearing in mind that motor oil contains a multitude of additives that may not be very useful for an electric motor bearings - It contans various detergents/anti sludging ingredients, anti-frothing additives and sprung coiled polimers to give the multigrade property (that I know of).

***Under the circumstances, gear oil may be less inappropriate.

I prefer Mobil One 0W30. It is thin, to work itself in tight bearings. Has detergent additives to dissolve any old oil left in the bearings. And has a tough synthetic base.

Unless you've previously used vegetable oil (like 3 in 1) any previous oil will simply be diluted - the detergents in sump oil won't do a thing to varnish left by vegetable oil.

Plain brass-alloy bearings need high film strength oil - if you must use sump oil, use the high film strength stuff they sell for diesel engines.

Lionel Wagner wrote in news:juu9g9$mno$ snipped-for-privacy@theodyn.ncf.ca:

Detergent oil is NOT recommended for applications where you don't have forced circulation & a filter. The detergent keeps particles in suspension so a car filter can remove them. In other devices, it just keeps any garbage floating around, adding wear.

Doug White

True, the impurities that are mostly old congealed oil, that is not necessarily abrasive, will be dissolved. Repeated oilings will eventually flush it out.

I may need to get some more of that.

The last time I used Tri-flow, it was in a round plastic contailer that had bright orange on it, I think it even came with a needle point, but that may be fantasy.

(...)

No idea. I was introduced to Triflow in the nifty black bottle.

I resurrected a Freecycle sewing machine just by applying Tri-flow to all the marked oil ports and wherever I saw contacting metal in relative motion. That machine went from completely frozen to quiet and smooth functionality in very short order.

It is good stuff, Cydrome.

--Winston