Fixing a seized oscillating fan motor
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- Опубликовано: 27 окт 2015
- A really simple fix to a stuck oscillating fan. This sort of failure is very common and the fan usually gets thrown out. But it's so easy to fix.
woodgears.ca/motors/fix_fan_mo...
Also see John Heisz's video on fixing a seized box fan:
• Fantastic Fast Fan Fix 
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I was pleased to see you use the household oil after the WD-40. It took me a long time (too long) to learn that WD-40 is not a lubricant, but a cleaner that lubricates only temporarily. Once the WD-40 dries out, if the piece hasn't been properly oiled, it often corrodes and seizes right up again.
Absolutely love your videos. I'm always happy when I see you've uploaded a new one.
indeed, wd40 to get it spinning again, then wipe off the excess, and a couple of drops of 3-in-1 oil on each bearing. I sound like a spammer, but it works really well. 3-in-1 alone will not get it spinning. wd40 as you say is only a cleaner. together, they bring your fan back to its youth.
What about silicone spray?
@@matambale3 in 1 blue can Mades for motors
I love the opportunity to repair. I figure it's not working anyway, so if you try to fix it you've got nothing to lose. If you fix it, great... and either way you've learned something in the process.
Winning attitude. Nothing ventured,nothing gained. 👍
Well, that was disappointingly easy to fix.
u couldn't see it xoming? admit it, u learned
people routinely throw out things that with a few minutes of work, are still very servicable. I think the largest problem is very few people these days understand how things actually work, and things have been made to have a "disposability" to them...with the cheap plastic housings and such, it's cheaper to trash an old one, and buy a new one, that it would be to have the old one fixed. The era of the "fix-it" guy, has long passed. (my grandfather was one of those guys; I learned my way around a toolbox holding the flashlight and handing him tools)
Good video for someone who might have never known this fix. I've been doing this with for mine years than I can count. Most of these kinds of fans are actually made with bushings though and not actual bearings. Thats why they don't last long. They, like most small appliances are engineered to last a short time now compared to days of old. More turn around means more profit for the manufacturers. The things I learned as a former printer tech. WD40 is good for cleaning out the gunk but it will not last long at all so be sure and do what he says and follow up with another thicker oil like 3 in 1, etc. The rear bushing is usually very difficult to get to, intentionally I believe. I actually have a large fan on my workbench right now that the rear bushing seized up so bad that I had to take it completely apart. Found out after the fact that you need a special press to get the whole thing back together. Had I known that ahead of time I think I would have just drilled a whole in the back of the housing. Live and learn... oh.. btw.. if anyone is interested. I learned from an old typewriter tech from IBM that the best thing they found to inhibit rust and lube is a 50/50 mix of SAE 30 motor oil and Marvels Mystery oil. Nothing I've found yet compares! Also, an older brother of mine has an antique fan from the 50s or 60s that has a small little port with a spring loaded flip up cap for oil and I think it is even labled OIL. lol.. it still runs like a champ and blows harder than any fan I've seen of equal size! That should tell ya something... thanks again Mathias.. love your videos!
Tony Walker sir my fan would spin freely when off but as soon as i turn it on it gwt really hard to spin by hand any suggestion help?
@@magdalenaesquivel6051
Check voltage on all the copper wires to the stater, the power supply might be burnt out, happens a lot more often then seized bearings.
I love how you pay attention to your fans.
SamJ i love how u pay attention to ur sense of style
Hmmm... Not sure if "Great fan of this video" or "Great video of this fan"...
+MrZaphaell well...that was awesome.
+MrZaphaell why not both?
+MrZaphaell Fan-tastic!
Bad joke.
@@spacetrucker2952 69 people disagree with you
Thanks Matthias, I had a vintage metal fan that seized up after using it twice. It's been collecting dust ever since as I hadn't felt like digging into yet to try and figure it out. Followed your instructions and had it going today in 10 minutes!
Love these quick fix videos. Far too often do people throw things away that can be easily repaired!
Subscribed for wood working a while back, but it's the little videos like this (and the ones where you explained how motors work) that keep me coming back. Maybe this'll come in use some day! Keep up the great work.
*I like how quiet it is, how well it works and **Fastly.Cool** , This was perfect to help air out a guest room and to use instead of AC when I only want one room kept cool. Works great!*
best quick video. no irrelevant chatter. straight up solution. thanks Matthias. you're the best
Good video! I've done the same fix many times.
I have cleaned & lubed my Honeywell fan multiple times over the years. It is now 15+ years old & still running great!
Btw, that kind of fix also works for refrigerator evaporator fan (shaded-pole) motors that squeak, rattle, & buzz. I just cleaned & lubricated one this month for a refrigerator that is 26+ years old. Shaded-pole motors will last for a very long time if maintained properly (which I probably do every 8 years or so...).
Thanks for sharing!
I have a fan which stopped working a few days ago, it is sitting here looking at me while I watch this video. Going to fix it now! Thanks!
Worked a treat, got my favourite fan back up and running! Thanks so much.
Thank you! I'm getting my fans ready for a hot summer and have 2 that are now working more efficiently and rotating. So easy. Now I'll look on Craigslist for the older fans. The ones they make now are crap.
Used this simple fix on my two 75W pedestal fans, and they both work now. Thanks a lot for this video Matthias!
Thank you very much for this perfectly informative video. You just helped me repair a ridiculously expensive fan with a little time and a little lube, I greatly appreciate the effort you put into showing the uniformed your bits of wisdom.
Thanks Matthias! I fixed an expensive fan that I thought was gone for good. I had to open up the motor and lubricate the rear bearing as well. Great video!
I did the same thing to a bathroom vent fan a while back. Honestly I was gonna just buy a new one but the fan was original to the house from 1970 and finding a direct replacement would have been too hard. For about 15 mins of work, I saved the fan. Thanks for all the great vids!
Saving the planet one appliance at a time. Most people would trash that thinking it was finished but with a little curiosity and yanke thrift you gave it a few more years of life. Thank you.
The motor on the electric dryer did the same thing. I took it apart and oiled it up like you did. After cleaning the whole cabinet & blowing the motor out. Oiled it up & spun it with a drill for awhile. I put it back together and it WORKS!! Given the age I am still gonna replace the motor. Thanks Matthias !!...
Just fixed my fan after watching your video, so much easier than expected! And saved me from having to buy another one, thanks!
I love the feeling of fixing discarded equipment. Good stuff!
It's so weird that you would post this today. My fan started doing that last night. I just fixed mine with 3-in-1 too. Thanks!!!
WD-40 stands for "water dispersant" formula 40. As the name implies it is meant to displace water in bearing surfaces. It eventually evaporates (almost completely) and is not a lubricant at all. To "slick" something up for a short period it works fine. So does water. After using WD-40, whatever the the marketing info says, use an appropriate lube for your project. Lighter fluid is a (very) slightly heavier liquid and can do the same job if flamability is not an issue. Naptha or lighter fluid is a more concentrated mixture of the hydrocarbons in WD-40. FYI
He used 3 in one oil that will make it last longer. He didnt just use wd40
Just because it has water displacement in the title doesn’t mean that’s all it is. It is 60% solvent (which will evaporate), 20% lubricant, and 20% other stuff like propellant. It can be used as a lubricant, but only for a short while. Hence why he used a proper lube.
I fixed about 10 to 20 seized up fans. I agree with this comment that I saw in another video:
" I've had trouble with most oils (including 3-in-1) gumming up again in a few days/weeks/months (depending on the fan). "
To get her working factory new, I think you have to pull the shaft and do a real good cleaning. But if you don't do it that way, spend an extra 5 minutes spinning the lubed up fan and then wiping away the dirty gunk, add more oil and repeat until your oil comes clean. Be sure to spin it both with a fan pointing down, and up, to get the oil all around inside.
I also agree with some of the comments that three in one oil might be a little too thick for such high speeds. I use one of those expensive, high grade, spray gun oils. It has replaced WD-40 in my toolbox.
For a really top-notch job, try kerosene sprayed with a syringe to clean everything out. I work over a disposable turkey baking pan, using 4 to 6 oz of kerosene, it's cheap. We used to do that on the old fashioned adding machines, about every third time we replace the brushes.
Finding this video helped me fix all the fans in my house... they were all about 6 years old and I didn't really know what to fix on them, thanks Matthias :D
I'm a furniture technician I love to do wood work.. and this is awesome technical work. thank you sir for this all videos
Wow, this is the exact problem that an old fan of mine is starting to have. You've inspired me to try fixing it myself!
I have a fan that is exhibiting the same symptoms and we're heading towards summer. Thank-you for this timely video. Cheers, b.
I was told not to use the standard red & white bottle of 3 in 1 oil because it wont last very long and instead bought the 3 in 1 oil that's labeled Motor oil (its in a blue & white bottle and has picture of a fan motor on it). Worked like a charm with getting a seized 6 year old tower fan running again (Honeywell HY-048BP).
Yes, the 3 in One red can oil contains vegetable oil. That oxidizes and crosslinks, turning to goo. It is the same chemical reaction as the curing of oil based finishes. The blue can 3 in One, labeled as SAE 20 electric motor oil, is a much better product. It is all petroleum oil, cross linking will be very much slower.
wouldnt dielectric grease work better or white lithium grease?
nice to see someone still fixing simple stuff.
This is why I subscribed, Matthias is always looking after his fans.
i actually needed this fix.. my fan stopped working last night.. thanks Matthias!!
Very good video. I hope more repairman "vloggers" would learn from this video.
A lot of people would have thrown that fan away. Thanks for sharing, nothing more rewarding than any easy fix.
Ever since you started doing all these videos about motors, I've been salvaging just about every oscillating fan I find in the trash.
great work specifically here in educating people on how to repair rather than scrap and great work reusing materials in your general projects, perhaps with more like you our children will still have some resources when their time comes.
This video has in fact inspired me to fix my fan rather than throwing it out. Good job Matthias.
+MrJmak642 I did it, and it works like new again. I didn't have any 3 in 1 oil, so I had to use synthetic gun oil. Worked great.
This works!!!! GREAT video! It's trash day today and there will be one less oscillating fan in the garage. Thanks for the 3 in 1 info as well, I didn't know about that oil. will pu some soon. Thank you for posting on youtube.
Love the smell of 3-in-one oil. Seems like there's always an ancient bottle of it around and my Dad was always putting it on hinges or other things in the house. Did this exact same thing to a window fan this summer. Great information to spread!
An under two minute video from Mathias I feel cheated :)
+iShootBandits It's not one of my main videos. It's that, or no video on a wednesday!
+iShootBandits Well, you could tell (if you bothered to look) that it was under 2 minutes long before you clicked on it. RUclips gave you fair warning.
+iShootBandits it is a great quick tip. By the way...youtube is free to watch!
+dlwatib My comment was all in good fun. I knew it was 1.41.
+barflybean You dont say
"Give me a WD40, and I will move the Earth."
-Archimedes
What goes Around comes Around. Oscillate Ma Lakum Ma Lakum Oscillate
I'm using the 3- in-one with the blue label , not the red one. The blue is said to stay non-sticky better
Give me a lever long Enough and I can move the world
Helped me fixed a fan I would have other wise thrown out. I just used compressed air and gun oil (probably not the best lubricant to use on it) but it is refreshed and working for now. Thank you for the tips/idea.
Every house needs a can of 3 in 1 oil that was probably purchased in the 1970's
Haha mine says 1968!
your not supposed to use this type on it. you should use either blue bottle 3in1, zoom spout, liquid wrench, or any 10W - 20W non detergent motor oil
IKR....I haven't seen a can in ages, come to think about it now.
Haha I had that at my house in Pennsylvania. In fact a LOT of stuff in my old house was purchased back in the 1930s to 1990s.
Followed instructions using a zoom spout oil, good & easy fix, you sir are a legend.
Many thanks as your repair guide helped me repair my fan and spare it from the landfill!!
nice easy fix........ I may have took the time to clean the whole thing up since all the casing was off.....but this is a good example of how simple some jobs are and will hopefully inspire a few people to "make do and mend", instead of just keep buying stuff unnecessarily.......Another useful vid......thanks
As Matthias noted, they type of oil you use is very important. I made a mistake using lithium grease on our pellet stove blower fan and that same day I had to shut it down and use motor oil since I didn't have the correct oil to use. It's been a year since that time and it's still running good. Crossing fingers since winter is coming soon.
Hi, I just want to say some more information about your fan. This part where you put oil it is called as bushing fan. It is a metal ring that release oil to lubricate the fan. Once this part is dry you need to replace it. If you just put more oil (as you did) after some time the fan will stop again. Some people try to boil these old bushing fan to replace the lost oil, but the better thing to do is buy a new ones. Sorry to correct your video, but it is a good information.
These bushing fan works when the fan is working, the friction between the fan axis and bushing fan starts to heat the bushing fan and it starts to release oil, diminishing the friction and temperature. Very clever until stops to work =X
+José Petri The problem is that typically these small bushings are not available to purchase (at least anywhere that I've found). And while replacing an oil impregnated bushing may be the proper way to fix it, disassembling and lubing the bushings as needed is much more cost effective, especially for as little time as it takes.
+José Petri Unfortunately, cheap Chinese fans don't use anything fancy like that, just plain old brass sleeve (bushing), not even the bronze one! Although brass does lubricate in some way by annihilation of itself, after a while, because of that, the gap becomes so big that axle wobble enough to crook the bushing in it's seat (a steel claw that holds it in position). The fan ceases as it is "pinched" by sleeve out of alignment , and oil helps it overcome that. Too bad it can gunk up later. Sometimes you can fix it just by moving the axle left, right, up and down, just to try to re-align the brass sleeve in the claw.
+MrZaphaell never knew there was so much to fan bearings. This is proving interesting after all. Thanks!
+Helge Frisenette Haha... You can clearly tell that I watch too many Matthias Wandel videos! :D
Hi, thanks for the video, I have fixed my fan, but I had only isopropyl alcohol and it works.
I did the exact same fix to an incredibly similar fan a couple of weeks ago. Good as new!
This is something I do every spring and fall to every fan in the house. They call come out to the back porch, get washed, dust blown out, and bearings re-oiled. A little preventative maintenance keeps things working nicely. Now, how many of you sweep off the condenser coils of your refrigerator every year? Oil your furnace blower fan bushings?
Had same problem with my 3 year old Honeywell hcm-310t humidifier.
3 hours, over 20 screws, 2 squirts of WD40 and a few drops of 3-in-1 electric motor oil later, and it's as good as new.
I'm going to give this a try the next time I have a fan that acts up.
Thanks for the idea!
Wow, so easy, and it actually worked. Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks for this video. I hate having to throw stuff away if I know I can invest a little time and fix them.
Thanks! Helped me get my only fan fixed
A tip that helped me on these. I also use WD40 or other penetrating oil to free them up but have found that full synthetic motor oil works MUCH better for much longer than the 3 in 1 or zoom spout oil I used to use. I dumped the zoom oil and refilled it with some Mobil-1. No gummy bearing for a few years now. Used to have to do this almost annually.
Maintaining this type of fan motor can really be a challenge. I have numerous floor fans that need regular oil service, but sometimes it turns out to be more complicated than oil and the bushings even the shaft may need replacing. Also the bushing wicks that act to hold oil are disintegrated so once I discovered hot to take them apart, I have just begun experimenting by replacing them with oil lamp wicks to see how it works out in the long run. Thank god for sealed, lifetime lubricated fan motors like my 20" Toastmaster box fan that is 30+ yrs old and requires no oiling!
Whoa I thought I had to replace the motor. Thanks so much for this simple fix!!!!
I had a ceiling fan with the same problem. Grease in the bearings got stiff. Even though they were sealed bearings, I was able to work some WD40 into the bearings and some 3-in-1 oil. Took about a half an hour to get everything freed up and spinning smoothly. That was more than 14 years ago. The fan is still running fine.
Thanks for sharing this particular video
Love those video. Most people would litteraly throw it in the carbage to be burned off and buy a new one due to a lack of knowledge about how to fix thing.
Ive thrown out many a fan because of this reason. Thanks for educating me. Never will I throw another fan away!
Did the same with a bathroom exhaust fan that was squealeng. Five years now and still running great
I'm agree Mathias, repair it before throw it.
I appreciate this video. it worked for me very well.
I have had a few fans do that....Thanks for the video.
+RetroWeld I have had a few in the past where the motor just stopped generating any real starting torque (but the shaft/blade still turned easily, and IIRC one could bump it into going). didn't mess with it much at the time, would probably try more now.
most of the fans of this particular model died pretty quickly.
IIRC, they were using capacitor-run split-phase motors (with a big cap under the control knob).
wow! that's what I did yesterday and it worked for a half an hour with the WD40 so I used a better lubricant the next day and it worked. Thanks dude!
Thank you very much! Please keep making videos like this.
Epic video worked straight away good job mate :)
I just did this and my crappy working fan is back to tip top. Thanks Matthias!
Thanks a lot man. I got two of my fans working now.
I have always been told not to use 3 in 1 to lube an electric motor as it is a penetrating oil and will ruin the bearings after a while. Glad it works for you.
Thank very much. Sir Matthians Wandel... God Bless You And More Power...
Gosh, I'm such a big fan of your videos! ;)
Fixed mine just now. Thanks!
Congratulation Mathias ! You now have a new fan ! :-P
Just fixed two completely knackered desk fans with this method... Just in time for Britain's heatwave! Thanks!
I only recently discovered the magic of using household oil. Now I cant imagine doing repairs without it..
Hi Matthias. I`m personally a fan of your page (no pun intended...), specially the dust collector blower. Let me tell about some issues with WD-40: first of all, it is something excellent to unstuck shaft/sleeves like the existent in electric fans. But it is not a good lubricant for daily long term usage because it`s very thin. A 3-in-1 oil, like someone suggested, is more adequate for lubrication efficiency on sleeves. Moreover, WD-40 forms a kind of brownish hard coat like varnish with time, something totally contrary to lubrication needs. Thats the reason gunsmiths hate WD-40 and do not use it in anyway. My suggestion, IMHO, is to unstuck free with WD-40 all the moving parts, disassemble, clean with kerosene or some other solvent, cook the sleeves in hot oil for some minutes (for the sintered sleeves reabsorb oil properly), reassemble and enjoy an electric fan again for several years ahead. I did it several times with fans thrown at neighborhood waste containers.
You should be using 3-in-1 in the blue can which is non-detergent oil. This will prevent the gunk from being held in suspension in the oil (which was the problem in the first place).
I've been doing this for years on a fan in my bedroom, but to quiet a worn sloppy bearing rather than to unseize it. it did seize once and I fixed it using this method. I use 10w30 motor oil on the bearings, it lasts a good bit longer. 3 in 1 just gives me a couple of days before the motor starts making an awful racket, oddly wd-40 lasts longer.
Thanks man, i have a old sears 70s 3 button fan that was gunked . Worked great. All of the fans you get now are so shitty and off balance.
Those that gave a thumbs down must be selling fans :-P
Beautiful , love it, avoiding needless waste. Schools need to take kids on tours of landfill sites to increase awareness, it can be a big eye opener.
I love seeing those classic 3in1 oil cans like that. I hate the new plastic bottles. I know all it does is contain oil, but I still like the old metal cans the best.
I love that 3 in 1 oil. We use it for our dollies at work and on the liftgates. Never a problem.
you should use the blue can 3-1 sae 20w motor oil for this, less likely to gum up again, or even just plain old non detergent 10w30 engine oil, the zoom spout cans are nice for motor bearing oiling
Brings back memories! This exact problem was the first broken appliance I ever fixed, in almost the same way! Bonus: now your room smells like 3-in-1!
I have a 22 inch high velocity fan I bought at wal-mart about 8-10 years ago, it's got probably about 50 thousand hours of use, I've had to take it apart, clean, and lubricate it twice. However, this last time was a couple of days ago, and I think the bearing is almost dead, so I'm going to have to replace it in the next couple of months.
Thanks. Greased it up and all fixed.
after millions of years of trying to fix our(my) electric fan , i hav finally fixed it !!! hahah thx for da tutorial
That also happened to my cheap chinese fan. I took the motor apart, cleaned the shaft and bearings with turpentine, put everything back together and lubricated with automatic transmission fluid. I've done this 3 years ago and is working fine since then.
Thanks! Just fixed the hood extractor with your idea!
Awesome video thanks, the issue I have is, I lubricated, now when it's off it spins very free, but when it's one, it gets very stuck and hard to spin
Did you known you're a trend starter! Thanks for the tip!
great vid i helped my grandpa to fix his fan but it was very bad i cant even turn it with my hand or pliers so i use a drill with high tourqe to break it loose well it went successful and it had been running for 2 years without any problems