fan oven fan failure

[Stephen]

Hello,

Last year I bought a Hotpoint fan oven. A year later the fan in the oven does not turn and just hums. Hotpoint want £70 for someone to come and look at it. I think I reported it to them just before the year's warranty ran out, so I am a bit disappointed that they have not been more helpful.

It is a shame that the fan has failed after just twelve months. The oven that it replaced must have been over ten years old and the fan was still going strong.

If I spin the fan, by spinning the blades with something when the power is off, when I turn the oven on again, the fan will spin.

What is causing this and what is the solution? Should I just replace the fan or can the one I have be repaired?

Another, more cosmetic, issue is that the neon (?) light that illuminates when the oven element is on, has fallen of whatever it is attached to inside the fascia and the lens has fallen off the exterior.

I don't know whether this means I have been unlucky or whether it is a sign of shoddy workmanship? As it happens, this was the second oven they sent me as the first had the shelves installed at a slope!

I knew when I bought it that Hotpoint was a budget brand, but I could not see the point of spending £800 on an expensive brand and I could not afford that either. However I would have expected it to last better than it has.

Thanks, Stephen.

[Andrew Gabriel]

How much was it? Go back to the retailer, and ask them to sort it out. They are liable for up to 6 years (providing you would reasonably have expected the item to last that long).

Read up on this on the web first, e.g.

[Olav M]

I have an older Hotpoint fan oven. I haven't come across this fault but my cooker element failed like a firework when cooking, after 10 years. I did the repair so I'll try to make suggestions....

[Interloper]

Your fan has forgotten the words. Reprogramme your fan with the appropriate lyrics :-)

Seriously though, I had exactly the same problem a few months ago with my naff Neff oven after about 11 months of use.

In my case, the fan bearings (oilite phosphor bronze bushes) had dried out, as they tend to do in hot environments. The armature shaft then binds in the bearing and the drag prevents the (low torque) fan from starting. Often the fan will still run if it is initially manually spun with the power on, which proves the point. The armature shaft usually overheats and burns the remaining oil residue, resulting in a black deposit on the shaft, which further adds to the friction.

Rather than mess about with Neff warranties, I removed the fan, stripped the motor down and cleaned the armature shaft. I then reinpregnated the phosphor bronze bushes with oil and reassembled. Often the phosphor bronze bushes are inside an aluminium casing and surrounded by a felt oil reservoir. This felt reservoir should be saturated with oil. Usually there is a hole in the aluminium casing to administer the oil through. My oven fan is running fine now, but I expect I'll have to do it again in a year-or-so's time.

I also have the same problem with the fan in my bathroom heater. It's an annual event to strip the whole heater down, remove all the long hair wrapped around the motor shaft, vacuum out all the baked-on talcum powder and relubricate the partially seized phosphor bronze armature bearings. Two out of three problems could be resolved by banning females from using the heater!

Before undertaking the remedial work yourself, I would (as Andrew Gabriel suggested) demand that Hotpoint and/or the retailer honour the warranty and repair the fault under guarantee. Most likely their engineer will only fit a new fan, rather than fix the old one.

Your neon problem is probably a broken lens unit. These neon lens assemblies are generally cheap and nasty - the body of the neon lamp clips into the back of the lens. Two sprung 'legs' hold the neon on place, and in turn the neon holds the lens in place. A leg has probably snapped off. Ask your friendly Hotpoint engineer to bring a new lens with him when he calls to fix your fan.

Good luck, and stand your ground on the warranty issue!

[harry]

Sounds like the fan motor needs lubrication. (High temp lubricant). But go back to where you bought it first before fiddling with it.

[harry]

Small induction motors are usually "shaded pole" devices and have a single thick turn of wire in the stator to start them. There are no external devices.

[JohnW]

If you do decide to replace the unit, double check the manufacturer part nu= mber against the part you buy. I have an Indesit oven (probably identical t= o Hotpoint) and ordered a fan suitable for the model number. Many sites wer= e showing the same fan. When it arrived, I fitted it (a relatively simple j= ob) but the fan shaft was too long for the oven. After much checking, I fou= nd the original part number and it was three - four times the price of even= supposedly original parts with the too long number. The motor looked ident= ical and all fitting holes were the same. It was only the shaft length. So = I sent the new one back and hit the oven if the fan doesn't start.=20

John

[Interloper]

Surely a hacksaw would have been your friend?

[meow2222]

The trick is to quote the Act in question. Your contract is with the retail= er. Hopefully that'll get it sorted FOC.

If not, if hotpoint was 70 notes for a fan... buy one elsewhere. Its a free= ish market.

NT

[F Murtz]

You mean ngle grinder

[Clive Page]

I suspect this is a frequent fault with fan ovens as they age - after a time the bearings dry out from the heat in the oven and then the shaft sticks. We have an old one where that happens every year or two, and I squirt some oil around the bearings, which fixes it till next time.

But that shouldn't happen so soon after purchase - I think you should try to get the retailer to fix it.

[Stephen]

Not quite. I spin the fan manually (with a pencil between the slots) but it has stopped spinning before I apply the power. However the act of manually spinning seems to "unseize" the fan so that it will spin when the power is applied.

This has been suggested in a few replies. They are right and I will try the retailer, my mistake was to go straight to Hotpoint.

Yes, they seem to have a bad reputation these days and sadly, my recent experience seems to confirm it.

Thanks, Stephen.

[Stephen]

Thanks. I will go to the retailer for help but for future reference, what oil do you use? Does it have to be something special to withstand the heat and not smoke or will 3 in 1 do?

[Stephen]

Thanks. Can you recommend a brand?