Electrical Motor Problems...

[Kev]

To all those who know about electrical motors, or EC in general heres the problem.

When i turn the fan on in my bathroom, "sometimes it will very slowly spin around. After a couple of minutes of doing this it hits its full RPM, sometimes its spins slowly, and then stops." If i spin the fan by hand eventually i'll get it power up.

Why is this happening? The motor works....sort of. Are the brushes dirty? Should i buy some electrical spray and clean the contact points?

Any ideas guys? --- Kev

 

[Cali Scott]

To all those who know about electrical motors, or EC in general heres the problem.

When i turn the fan on in my bathroom, "sometimes it will very slowly spin around. After a couple of minutes of doing this it hits its full RPM, sometimes its spins slowly, and then stops." If i spin the fan by hand eventually i'll get it power up.

Why is this happening? The motor works....sort of. Are the brushes dirty? Should i buy some electrical spray and clean the contact points?

Any ideas guys? --- Kev

Probably the bearings are dirty from dust, etc. being sucked through it. This problem is compounded by moisture from the bath. You may wantto try some WD-40 or the like in the bearing area.

 

[mick_eight]

Scrap it kev it's likely a old low output fan,with the problems cali said. Buy a new high output fan,you'll love the difference.about $20 t0 $30

 

[hitrack]

why fukk around, just hit Homo Depot and score a new one. I find other than old crackly volume knobs on stereo's that electrical contact spray is a can of snake oil. Matter-0-fact snake piss might work better.

 

[tarzan]

Go buy a new one and save yourself the time and trouble.
Exactly the same problem happened to me. I removed the fan, cleaned and oiled everything in sight. It lasted for about another month but then just stopped working. Ended up replacing it anyway. Make sure you take the old one to compare because they come in different sizes.

 

[eljudo]

just go to your buddy house , ask to borrow his bathroom... go in, unscrew the fan, take a shit, out you go back to your place and finally install the darn thing.

 

[Kev]

The motor still worked so i saw no need to throw it out.

So what i did was, i took HFS advice.

I took it to work and tore it apart. I then used an airline to clean all the pubic hair and dust mites that had accumulated over the 40 years its been in there. (The motor was so filthy you couldn't even recognize it was a motor.) I then lubed all bearings and generally gave it go 'rub down.' I put it back together and the things spins like a Rolex.

Thanx all for your suggestions guys. --- Kev