Well, you got your money's worth already anyway. The fan shaft might have seized from lack of oil. Bet you did not oil the motor in those three years. Good maintenance with your usage would be yearly. You could take it apart, clean up the shaft, oil it and try it again. But first, rotate the fan blade (motor unplugged) by hand. If it moves freely then a stuch shaft is not the problem. If the blade stops as soon as you take your hand off then it is seized and you might have a chance. Changing the plug on a whim or guess shows that you maybe should just head to the dollar store. If they have a VOM there, buy one.
In alt.home.repair on Wed, 27 Jul 2005 13:14:45 GMT "Joseph Meehan" posted:
You said it better than I could. It's amazing how many people miss this point.
It's a loser all around. OP, you're wasting electricity, you're wasting the fuel they use to make the electricity, and you're heating your house.
But I'm proud of you for turning off your AC. That uses more electricity and some don't even turn it off.
Meirman
-- If emailing, please let me know whether or not you are posting the same letter. Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.
I had a fan that I loved very much too. Made by Panasonic who no longer makes them. But after 3 years it stopped turning also. I used gumout to clean the bearings and than reoiled and she was as good as new (until my kid knocked it off the table and broke the blade).
Unfortunately, a can of Gumout will cost more than going to the dollar store and buying a new fan.
Do you open the windows and use the fan to blow air out or in a window? If no you are only making it hotter inside. The fan will consume electricity and that will all turn to heat inside you home. Fans don't cool the air, they only make you feel cooler because the air is moving. When you are not there it does no good.
Easy, trash the one you have and buy a new one. They are not really designed to be repaired.
In alt.home.repair on Wed, 27 Jul 2005 11:28:01 -0500 "Jmagerl" posted:
Yeah, but everyone should have a can of Gumout anyhow. It gets the gum out.
If the can costs 3 dollars, it takes maybe 3 cents worth to loosen things.
I don't know which would work better, Gumout or Liquid Wrench or one of the other competitors.
I have a fan that must have been at one time riveted to some machine in some factory. It's topheavy and if I hit it at all, it falls over.
But it's the only one whose base is small enough to sit on my window sill, above my bed. So I used one nail to nail it to the sill.
It starts to slow down or to give a low squeak after no more than 3 months. But it can be as little as a week. This year it was 2 months. I don't clean it; I just oil it, takes 3 minutes, but it's pretty clear the space between the shaft and the bearings is greater than in most fans. This one might be 50 years old (though I've only had it 15.) The bearings are very accessible, but the front one is a little harder to do since I keep the fan nailed to the sill. It has no plastic cover, just a metal motor, mounted to the stand at one side, and a blade and little grill on the shaft.
I'm lucky with this one. If it stalls, it gets hot of course, but never burning hot, and it always runs as good as it did after oiling.
Like with all my fans, all of them table fans, I have an external speed control. Most of them, including this one, can use a table light dimmer with no problem. (If not, I take a fan control and mount it in some sort of plastic box.) I also took a thermostat out of a broken fan, mouted it in the plastic cap of an aerosol can, and have the fan turn off if it gets too cold in the night.
Meirman
-- If emailing, please let me know whether or not you are posting the same letter. Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.
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.