I had to upgright? fans that stopped working recently. The motor hummed and the blade tried? to turn. Blowing the motor didnt' help nor did picking out any for matter with tweezers. The blade didn't turn very freely by hand. I was unsure of using a solvent to clean the motor, say carb cleaner or something because I thought it might desolve the varnish on the copper windings. I had nothing to lose so I sprayed it down with some cleaner that had bleach in it (all I had) and I spun the blade by hand. Sprayed, spun, repeated several times. I washed the fan well in hot water and yes I got the entire thing wet. I did everything to rinse it except submerging it. I let it dry 24 hours and it seems to be working as good as new. Short term fix? I don't know but it wasn't working as it was. So I was wondering if there was a better way to clean it. It looks like crude get built up between the rotor/armature (the heavy metal thing that spins) and the stator (the piece that doesn't spin.) Should I try a Hydrocarbon solvent or a fine oil and then blow it out? The HC would make sense if it didn't do damage but I think the oil would increase the accumulation of crude. I did search this on the net but most of the responses were how to clean and oil the bearings but I'm not sure that was the problem or it wouldn't have worked after cleaning.....I don't think. On thing I did find was the suggested use of an electric motor cleaner. Is this something special or would WD40 work ok? I'm not looking to lube with WD 40, just use it as a cleaning solvent. Any suggestions appreciated. Demhi Moss
- posted
8 years ago