What Lubrication For A Room Fan?

[Daffy D]

We have several wall mounted and free standing room fans some of which are several years old but still work fine most of the time.

Trouble is they regularly seize up and I take them apart lubricate the bearings and they're good to go again.

This seizing up seems to happen more often recently, don't know if it's the long dry spell and dusty conditions but seems like I'm having to lubricate a fan every few weeks now.

Over the years I've use Singer sewing machine oil, contact lubricant that comes in blue spray cans (saves taking the motor apart) Vasaline (not tried Ky jell) and most recently chassis grease. While all of these get the fan spinning again non of them work more than a few weeks before having to be re-lubricated.

Anybody have a magic lubricant formula that will save me spending endless hours fixing seized up for the rest of my life?

[Thot]

Had the same problem. Found a local fellow who put in new bearings and whatever holds then in. Work fine now. Also there are shops in nearby town that repair electric things. Really reasonably priced.

[Litlos]

The blue spray cans stuff attracts dust and is no a good long term lubricant for motor bearings and will go sticky very quickly and actually make things worse. The bearings are gererally a "sleeve" type bearing and respond better to lubricating oil.

I use the spare oil left over from servicing the car, so a bit of all purpose clean new diesel engine oil seems to be the go. The Singer machine oil should be ok, but engine oil is a better lubricant as has enhancers and detergent.

The trick is to place a small amount of oil in the lid of the container (3mm) then use a toothpick to pick up a drop and deposit on the shaft near the bearing. Works better if the assembly is held vertically so said oil will run down into the bearing, then spin the shaft to ensure the oil is distributed throughout the bearing. If using the very sharp type bamboo toothpicks then clip the sharp end off (about 1mm) works well to aid in picking up a drop of oil.

I generally pull apart and lube the fans from new as there seems to be insufficient lube applied at manufacture. A bit of light grease also goes onto the worm gear for the oscillation at the same time.

I showed the TGF's nephew how to do this and he makes a bit of pocket money servicing the fans in the village. A litre of oil lasts forever doing this.

Silicone oil, greases and stuff in spray cans is generally not lubricating oil suitable for high speed bearings. Ok for locks and hinges that are low speed only as long as you do not mind the dust sticking to the exposed spray.

Cheers

[rookball]

im surpised contact lubricant and singer oil even last more than a week

get proper marine grease. not only your fans, if you rebuilt old cars and bikes its almost magic

[Crossy]

I would have thought engine oil was a bit heavy, but litlos seems to have had success, I'll give it a go next time one of ours stops.

There are pads behind the bearing retaining clips that should be saturated with lubricant which then travels by capillary action through the voids in the sintered metal bearing to the work surface. A syringe could be a good way of getting oil in there to increase the intervals between services.

Some years ago I actually got some sealed ball races of the correct size to fit our seized Hatari fan. It needed a bit of work with the Dremel and the bearings weren't cheap but said fan is still going strong and silently. Due to alignment issues (the cheapo sleeve bearings actually swivel slightly) I had to open up the bearing seats in the fan motor and then retain the bearings with silicon. To be honest, considering my time to do the job and the cost of the bearings it would have been cheaper to buy a new fan.

EDIT A bit of research here http://www.klueber.com/en/applications/components/sintered-metal-bearings/#21855 (who make the lubricants) and here http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/iso-vg-grade-d_1206.html (to convert the ISO-VG viscosity to SAE engine oil ratings) suggests that a 5Wxx or 10Wxx engine oil is actually about the same viscosity as the lubricant originally used. So litlos seems spot on

[Litlos]

Yes needs to be diesel engine oil as is lower viscosity (10w 30) as opposed to oil for a petrol engine which is possibly 30w 50, Singer machine oil is about a 7 weight I would guess, but lacks the detergent and lubrication enhancers of the diesel engine oil, I also get about 1/2 litre of engine oil returned to me when I get the vehicle serviced, so have some on hand. I also put a small amount of light grease on the worm drive and other parts of the oscillating mechanism

Under the no good deed goes unpunished label when the TGF turned the bedroom fan on last night it started to squeak, so todays job is to pull it apart and a couple of drops of oil again. I did not think it had the felt oil rreservoirson the bearings so will have to look a bit harder. From memory was about 18 months ago I did it last time and it runs for about 9 hours every day, so a pretty good run.

Cheers

[Crossy]

On the fans we have the pads are inside the motor housing, so to access same requires the housings to be at least pulled along the shafts enough to get at them

[ThaidDown]

Over the years have repaired / maintained many fans from home and wifes businesses, at the moment she has a couple of clothes shops so fans are on 12 hours a day or more.

Have found that the newer (cheaper made) fans often do not have the felt pads, only the sintered bronze type bearings. The key I've found is do not let them seize up, do a bit of preventative maintenance. To check if the bearings are getting 'sticky' check when you turn the fan off how quick the blades stop rotating.

If the bearings have seized I usually use moly type spray as a 'wash' and clean off with tissue it's surprising how much dirt comes out. . Then laying the fan down with the spindle vertical dribble oil to leave a pool around the bearing, now leave for a while so it soaks in, add more oil if necessary, repeat for other end of spindle.

Same as Litlos I use engine oil ( and use it in an oil can) as I've found the spray type oils, sonax or WD40, are too volatile and evaporate too quickly, the fan motors do get quite warm. I also re-oil a new fan new before initial use.

I would just add that, in my experience, once a fan has seized up, even though it can usually be freed up, it usually needs more attention in the future. So catch them before they seize. If used in a dusty environment they could probably do with a clean every couple of months, it's amazing how many dog hairs some of ours collect, so just re-oil at the same time.

[Daffy D]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Some good info there and I'll defiantly try the engine oil next time.

I would have thought engine oil to be a bit heavy but seems to work for "Litlos" and with "Crossy" usual professional input engine oil it has to be.

I used to use the toothpick method of getting the oil onto the bearings but upgraded to syringe and find that much better. I use one of the old syringes they give out with printer ink refills but I'm sure you can by them at any pharmacy.

Again thanks to y'all