Fan motor bearing lubricant?

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I'm putting this in the "tool time" forum because I'm not sure where else to put it. There's a similar stick in the "grease" forum, but I'm not sure that grease is the appropriate lubricant here.

I have a Vornado brand fan that I picked up free from the recycling bin at work a few months ago. Plug it in and turn it on...can hear the motor humming, but the fan blade won't turn. Okay, so I take it apart and find that the motor shaft will turn but only if I turn it with a pair of pliers. So I lubricate both bearings (which are not replaceable or even R&R'able that I can tell) with some spray lubricant (BPL corn-based lubricant) and it runs fine. But then a few weeks later, it will get slow and eventually bind up again. So I took the whole thing apart again and lube both bearings, and it spun free. I used it for a few more weeks it bound again. This time, I tried spraying just the front bearing, behind the fan blade. And that freed it up...so it's just a problem with the front bearing. Mind you, when I "spray" the bearing, I'm really just dribbling a small amount of liquid from the straw...just enough to lubricate the bearing itself.

So what's the deal here? Why does it keep binding up? I've used both the BPL bio-based lubricant and actual WD-40, and it binds up with both. It's been about a week since I last applied WD-40, and it's already slowed down enough so that the blade comes to a positive stop after 3-4 seconds after I turn it off. After new lubricant, it'll spin twice as long and may stop and rotate backwards if the heavy part of the blade is up or something like that.

Am I using the wrong product for this application? Should I be using something like a graphite lube? Or am I destined to simply have to remove the blade every month and lube the front bearing?
 
I would think lightly buffing the shaft clean and giving it a good coat of wheel bearing grease, maybe Mobil 1 syn grease, and it would work.
 
I don't have a direct answer for you but I can tell you one thing, WD40 will do you no favors lubing a fan motor. It is not a lubricant.

I would assume for this application you would want something with adhesive qualities. Possibly something like a Wurth HHS2000.
 
Use something like La-Co Zoom spout oiler.

The newer Vornado has a permanently-lubricated bearing.
 
If the motor is lacking oiling points, I would have to suggest a new motor or new fan unfortunately. Motor is done. Oil of choice would be a ND thin oil 20wt. Not going to help in your case.
 
My parents have an old box fan (has to be from the 60s) that has lube points - still works great!

At our old house, we had a few fans that would seize over winter (that, at the time were 15 years old). usually WD-40 or penetrating oil would free them up for the summer .. where they would run most of the summer.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
So I lubricate both bearings...
Should I be using something ..?

3-IN-ONE SAE 20 Motor Oil is made for lubricating the moving parts of electrical motors.

The drip spot is really the best feature of 3-in-One oils. Very easy to apply just a few drops at the bearing
 
You're probably fighting old dried-out lubricant grit and maybe galling in the bearings. If you could dismantle the motor down to the point where you could thoroughly clean the shaft where it passes through the bearings and also the bearings themselves, then re-lubricate with 20-weight oil, it might last quite a while longer.

FWIW, you could probably buy a replacement motor- its probably a shaded-pole motor that looks something like this:

DisassembledShadedPoleMotor-LG.jpg


or this:

Shaded-Pole-Motor-YJ58-.jpg


You can find them online for <$20, but not sure its even worth that for a free fan. :)
 
I oil my cheap-o throw away fans with the 3 in 1 Electric Motor Oil and it seems to work much better than the Rem-oil and Hoppes I was using before. I try to drip some oil on the shaft from inboard of the bearing then set the motor so the oil and crud flows out of the motor, along the shaft, then turn it over and do the other side. Its a little work every 6-12 mos. but I'm too cheap to buy new fans.

Be careful, I tried to resurrect an old fan and it worked for a while but I didn't notice it had seized up and then got REALLY HOT, luckily I hadn't put the covers back on it or parts could have started melting/burning. That fan went straight to the dumpster once it cooled off.
 
Originally Posted By: JamesBond
Be careful, I tried to resurrect an old fan and it worked for a while but I didn't notice it had seized up and then got REALLY HOT, luckily I hadn't put the covers back on it or parts could have started melting/burning.


That's what happened with this Vornado. It was in the living room, but it had bound up and I didn't realize it (it's such a quiet fan anyway). I smelled a burning smell and the back of the plastic case where the motor is was too hot to touch. Hours later, that motor was still so hot I could barely touch it. Some BPL bio-based lube later, and it worked like a charm.

I now keep the van on my desk at work, so it's monitored at all times. I will try the 3-n-1 electric motor oil next time it needs a service.

This is quite a nice fan... It's a Model 180 Compact, and made in the USA.
34.gif
It has to be 10-15 years old and was probably close to 100 bucks new. It just needs a little TLC in its old age. I'd rather keep this fan going than buy a new Hecho-in-PRC model.

This looks like the current version of it, but mine has a variable speed control rather than discrete steps.

http://www.amazon.com/Vornado-530L-Compact-Whole-Circulator/dp/B000MTVGOI
 
Quote:
UPDATE:
I have a large floor-standing Vornado fan I purchased at a garage sale several years ago. I noticed it would no longer spin-on-start without assistance.

At first, I pointed it straight up, removed the blade and soaked the small gap between the shaft & upper bushing with oil, then let it sit overnight. Made little difference.

So I pulled the motor, split the case and drilled out the 6 rivets holding the two bushing pads in place. They were quite dry and the packing just crumbled. I replaced the packing with cotton pads and soaked both bushings in paint thinner, then scrubbed the inner bore with a .38 caliber brass pistol brush. Followed up by polishing both shafts. Reassembled the bushing pads with small screws & lockwashers & nuts to keep it all together. Then took a small syringe loaded with M1 10w-30 and soaked both pads till they were full. Left them face up on the bench overnight.

Next day, I added more oil to fill them up, reassembled the motor and spun it by hand...incredibly smoooooth and it slowly spun down to a smooth stop.

Plugged the fan in and she's just like new!

I have another medium-sized Vornado floor fan that I plan on giving the same treatment to as it's seen a lot of use over the years though it's not as old as the one above.
 
I've had the best service from a few drops of Amsoil synthetic ATF. Last oiled the fan bearings about two years ago. Still running good. The other light oils I tried seemed to evaporate in a few months.
 
I'll second pcoxe - ATF is the best lightweight all-purpose oil I can think of. It's perfect for things like fan bearings. I've resurrected a few fans with it, ranging from 20" box fans to 1" muffin fans.
 
Post Deleted. I thought you guys were talking about an OLD window fan...
 
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If you can - disassemble everything and clean all the old junk out as others have said.

If you can't disassemble everything - a good spraying of brake cleaner will get all the old grease out at least.


Once it's all clean - spray the [censored] outta the bearings with some white lithium grease. That should do the trick for ya.
 
Isn't molybdenum going to clog channels in porous bronze? Can oils with solid lubricants such as Teflon or MoS2 be used with oilite bearings that almost every fan has?
 
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