My dead Westinghouse floor fan, continued, (thank you, Allan & Tom)

[Dennis Thompson]

Allan, great tips on your old forum format for me, thank you.  I do seem to have about a 50 ohm resistance measuring across the 110V line cord plug with switch on.  (Open when switch off)  From your comments, I guess my next step is to try to get to those bearings and free them up.  My concern is I don't really have an exploded diagram of the fan assembly, so I'm, "winging it."  I want to be really careful not to harm anything.  (Nothing like going in for a bearing and breaking a coil wire......)  Tom, yes, I did check for continuity; thank you.  Have you ever disassembled your fan?  I'd love to see a photo of one of these with the parts laid out on a table......

 It is actually quite likely that the bearings did fail suddenly. Often the oil will become gummy and sticky over time. The oil will continue to lubricate as long as there is a film remaining on the bearings and shaft, but it is too gummy to flow through the oil wicks and pores in the bearings. 

There comes a point where the oil film suddenly is lost, and the bearings suddenly get very tight. You may be able to disassemble the fan, clean the shaft, and get oil back into the bearings where they will function again. Normally when this happens, you will need to use heat to remove the gummed oil from the bearings in order to make room for new oil. But, sometimes they will continue to work with additional oil added to what is still remaining.

It's possible that the stalled condition has caused the motor winding to burn out; however you mention that there wasn't any unusual smell from the motor nor any signs of smoke damage. So I would expect this didn't happen. To see if the fan is still electrically "good" you need to use your meter at the power cord plug. Unplug it from power, and test for resistance between the two plug terminals. You should see a reading in the "ohms" range.  It should be less than 100 ohms between the two terminals. This would be with the fan switch in the ON position. If you see a higher resistance, in the thousands or millions of ohms - then you'll have to search for the electrical open circuit in the system. 
Allan

[David Allen]

Glad my advice to check for resistance was helpful. That likely means your motor isn't burned out.

Unfortunately, I don't have a fan like that and can't really assist with disassembly specifics.  I would say, in general, try oiling the bearings without taking the fan apart. See if you can get it to rotate freely. Then once it turns freely, make a test run.   I would still take it apart fully and make a proper bearing service; but you could verify that there's not more wrong by oiling it as it is and getting it running for a test.

[Marce Clark]

Hey Dennis what kind of oil are you using because that can make a difference as well.

 

 

 

  Marce

[Dennis Thompson]

I've been getting a lot of great help from Tony.  However, not wanting to drop this thread with no conclusion, let me say I'm still trying to figure out how to get the oscillating linkage un-coupled so the motor can be pulled free.  So far Tony discovered a hairpin clip in his that is the disassembly answer for what he has of similar or exact model.  I don't seem to have that clip and am still stuck.  Tomorrow and beyond we'll continue our pursuit of this problem.  I about wore my eyes out tonight trying to see in there for a way to disconnect this linkage.  Finally gave up.....for tonight.  When I get it apart, then I'll look for correct oil, (thanks Marce for bringing up that subject)  PS: my fan is pictured elsewhere in this forum, (or the old forum).  It is marked model/cat. no. 10 PMP.  This could make a drinking man out of me................