1. Home
  2. Home Repair
  3. What oil should I use?

What oil should I use?

What kind of oil should I use?

I have an old fan that looks like it came off of some factory machinery.

I've had it for 30 years, but I think it's 50 to 90 years old. ?? It still looks original. (though the blade used to slip a lot, and took 60 seconds to catch up to the speed of the shaft, until I glued the two pieces together)

It used to be it only required oiling once a summer, iirc, but that has gradually gotten more frequent. Even though just 5 years ago, it lasted for 2 months once, even then it was usually every 2 weeks, and now it is every day or two.

What oil should I be using? It has no oil ports, unless you call the hole in the case right next to the shaft a port. At the other end, with the blade, I have to tip the motor face up and use a long spout oil bottle to place oil right where the shaft comes out of the bearing.

When it needs oil, over the course of an hour or two, it gradually slows to a stop, and the motor itself gets hot, and because I"ve been sleeping, I think I've let it stay stopped and hot for hours. But when oiled again, it seems to run just fine. I suppose it's too old to have oil-impregnated bearings. (When did those come out?)

I've used 3-in-1 oil, SAE 20, 10W-30**, and I'm wondering if I should use thicker or thinner. Should I use gear lube (SAE 90 iirc) or try to find something in the middle like SAE 60***. Is sewing machine oil thinner than SAE 20 and 3-in-1? At any rate, I have some thin oil in a clear plastic tube, with a 2mm tube for applying it.

I know I could try every one of these but I need some encouragement.

**Yes I know the additives aren't needed, but at first it seemed to work better than other oils.

***I could buy a quart of 10W-50 for the car and use some of that.

Please don't tell me to throw the fan away. The only alternative to better oil is oiling it every day. Last year I got a bigger fan with 3 speeds that does a wonderful job keeping me cool all night, but I still want this one, which is the only one small enough to fit on my window sill, right next to my bed and my head, and which I can turn on or off just by lifting my arm to the switch on the cord. . I could nail a shefl to the sill and use a bigger fan, but I'd rather oil it every night before I go to bed. I keep looking for a simlar fan, including ebay, but no luck. And if I did buy one, I'd still have to fix this one.

Thanks.

Unrelated to my qusetion, I think, It's all metal, all black enamel except the blade and the wire grill around it. It has a thin,flat base

4 or 5 inches square, with holes at each corner, which I think held screws or rivets that held it to the machinery, or maybe a tractor or fork-lift if they had fans so long ago. From the base is a mini I beam going up to hold a motor a little bigger than 2 decks of cards, on on top of the other. The shaft is closer to one end of the rectangle. The wire screen is barely any protection from sticking my fingers in the path of hte blade. It has one blade, or two if you count both ends. It certainly doesn't oscillate.
Reply to
micky
Loading thread data ...

Try PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench once or twice to flush out the goo, then 20w oil should be fine.

Reply to
Mr.E

I encourage you to replace the bearings.

Reply to
dadiOH

I agree with flush, and reoil. I'd have said spray can of brake cleaner, to clear the old junk out. And then ND-30 to relube. It needs to be non detergent oil.

If you can unbolt, and get the fan apart, that will help clear out the old oil.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

formatting link
.

Try PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench once or twice to flush out the goo, then 20w oil should be fine.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

First step is to flush out the old oil. The old oil is most of your problem. I'd have said spray can of brake cleaner, to clear the old junk out. The non flammable stuff is safer for electrical equipment.

And then ND-30 motor oil to relube. It needs to be non detergent oil. Also good is "zoom spout turbine oil" which is much the same. ND 20 or ND30.

If you can unbolt, and get the fan apart, that will help clear out the old oil. Be generous with the flush stage, it's good to get as much of the old oil out, as you can.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

formatting link
.

I have an old fan that looks like it came off of some factory machinery.

I've had it for 30 years, but I think it's 50 to 90 years old. ?? It still looks original. (though the blade used to slip a lot, and took 60 seconds to catch up to the speed of the shaft, until I glued the two pieces together)

It used to be it only required oiling once a summer, iirc, but that has gradually gotten more frequent. Even though just 5 years ago, it lasted for 2 months once, even then it was usually every 2 weeks, and now it is every day or two.

What oil should I be using? It has no oil ports, unless you call the hole in the case right next to the shaft a port. At the other end, with the blade, I have to tip the motor face up and use a long spout oil bottle to place oil right where the shaft comes out of the bearing.

When it needs oil, over the course of an hour or two, it gradually slows to a stop, and the motor itself gets hot, and because I"ve been sleeping, I think I've let it stay stopped and hot for hours. But when oiled again, it seems to run just fine. I suppose it's too old to have oil-impregnated bearings. (When did those come out?)

I've used 3-in-1 oil, SAE 20, 10W-30**, and I'm wondering if I should use thicker or thinner. Should I use gear lube (SAE 90 iirc) or try to find something in the middle like SAE 60***. Is sewing machine oil thinner than SAE 20 and 3-in-1? At any rate, I have some thin oil in a clear plastic tube, with a 2mm tube for applying it.

I know I could try every one of these but I need some encouragement.

**Yes I know the additives aren't needed, but at first it seemed to work better than other oils.

***I could buy a quart of 10W-50 for the car and use some of that.

Please don't tell me to throw the fan away. The only alternative to better oil is oiling it every day. Last year I got a bigger fan with 3 speeds that does a wonderful job keeping me cool all night, but I still want this one, which is the only one small enough to fit on my window sill, right next to my bed and my head, and which I can turn on or off just by lifting my arm to the switch on the cord. . I could nail a shefl to the sill and use a bigger fan, but I'd rather oil it every night before I go to bed. I keep looking for a simlar fan, including ebay, but no luck. And if I did buy one, I'd still have to fix this one.

Thanks.

Unrelated to my qusetion, I think, It's all metal, all black enamel except the blade and the wire grill around it. It has a thin,flat base

4 or 5 inches square, with holes at each corner, which I think held screws or rivets that held it to the machinery, or maybe a tractor or fork-lift if they had fans so long ago. From the base is a mini I beam going up to hold a motor a little bigger than 2 decks of cards, on on top of the other. The shaft is closer to one end of the rectangle. The wire screen is barely any protection from sticking my fingers in the path of hte blade. It has one blade, or two if you count both ends. It certainly doesn't oscillate.
Reply to
Stormin Mormon

micky,

I agree with dadiOH. Look at the bearings. Be warned that replacing the bearings can be expensive. Often a new motor is cheaper. Look in your local phonebook for a listing of electric motor shops. Large cities have such shops

Dave M.

Reply to
Dave M.

With all the *** oils he's been using, I'm guessing that's most of his problem.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

formatting link
.

I agree with dadiOH. Look at the bearings. Be warned that replacing the bearings can be expensive. Often a new motor is cheaper. Look in your local phonebook for a listing of electric motor shops. Large cities have such shops

Dave M.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

That's not a bad idea, a new motor. This was certainly a standard motor, at least it was 50 years ago, but they might well still sell it. .

What other descriptive words apply to a motor like I have? It would help me shop.

The motor is shaped like a cheese sandwich with 1/3 of it cut off. It's about an inch thick, 2 or 2.25 inches wide, and 3.5 to 4 inches long, has a bunch of air slots, and has the shaft about an inch from the end, coming out the bread rather than the crust or between the slices.

I think that means there is a winding at the other end, wound around a laminated C where the ends of the C go around something in the armature.

Is it called an induction motor? Shaded pole?

Actually, it looks something like this

formatting link
better picture half-way down

(I could buy this one, which I just found,, I suppose, but then I'll have two and one will still be broken, Maybe I have time to websearch and go to the motor store before the auction ends tomorrow night. )

There are two such stores here. One is called Electric Motor Repair, just so I won't forget i's name. For the other, I'll need the phone book.

Reply to
micky

I know he doesn't want to hear it, but give that it's a window fan I would just chuck it. Or get a new motor. But given that when it seizes up it gets hot, how lucky does he feel? He's been lubing it up with oil and I have visions of the thing catching fire and burning the house down....

Reply to
trader4

Multiple doses of oils that are famous for gumming up. I'm guessing he's got enough gummy oil to give Wrigleys Spearmint a run for their money.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

formatting link
.

lucky does he feel? He's been lubing it up with oil and I have visions of the thing catching fire and burning the house down....

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Buy the one on Ebay, save the housing and blade (if it comes off after the glue), and toss that old motor. Obviously the motor is shot or at least the bearings. A rebuild would cost a lot of money. You can get a motor for almost anything at Grainger.com, but it will be costly. Sometimes you just have to give up on something, and it soulds like you're risking a house fire, or at least stinky smoke damage if the motor burns up. Any motor that needs oil daily is shot, and the overheating is scary and dangerous. Even bad bearings should not need oil that often, so the motor windings are probably weak and have shorted coils.

Why risk it?

I agree that old stuff is made better than modern plastic crap, but everything dies sooner or later. This fan sounds like it's dying quickly......

Replace it!!!!

Reply to
fred.flintstone

Well, the price went up to 83 dollars counting shipping. Too much for me.

You make some good points. Given that you grew up with cavemen, I'm impressed by your knowledge of electicity. Thanks for your reply.

I haven't tried cleaning it with liquid wrench yet, so I'll try that first, and maybe it will go back to once a year oiling. . (BTW, Mr. E. I have another fan that stopped spinning. My father's fan, that was made in the '20's or 30's, and that he last used in 1955, stopped working for me about 1990. I only oiled that a couple times, in the 5 or 10 years I used it, until it started giving problems. It has bearings that were sphere shaped on the outside, so they could pint in any direction, and I thought they weren't pointed right, but eventually I gave up.

Who knows how many times my father oiled it. So, that fan is sitting a yard from me now, and I will see if Liquid Wrench helps it. It has two speeds.

>
Reply to
micky

I've had excellent results with the technique I described.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

formatting link
.

Well, the price went up to 83 dollars counting shipping. Too much for me.

Who knows how many times my father oiled it. So, that fan is sitting a yard from me now, and I will see if Liquid Wrench helps it. It has two speeds.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Why does it need to be non-detergent oil? How does the detergent hurt anything?

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

Detergent allows the oil to absorb moisture from the air. Which corrodes the steel surfaces. Not an issue in car engines, cause the engines get hot enough to drive the water out. Motors don't get hot enough (we hope).

Thanks for a thoughtful question.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

formatting link
.

Why does it need to be non-detergent oil? How does the detergent hurt anything?

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

On Sat, 04 Aug 2012 17:26:57 -0700, Ashton Crusher wrote in Re Re: What oil should I use?:

Good question. I've always wondered about that myself.

Reply to
CRNG

Detergent allows the oil to absorb moisture from the air. Which corrodes the steel surfaces. Not an issue in car engines, cause the engines get hot enough to drive the water out. Motors don't get hot enough (we hope).

Thanks for a thoughtful question.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

formatting link
.

Good question. I've always wondered about that myself.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Makes sense. Thanks

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.