1950s 20" Lakewood CountryAire Window Fan acquired today!

[Levi Mevis]

Hello everyone today on Facebook Marketplace I acquired locally a 1950s Lakewood CountryAire Window Fan that is complete with its original cord that is still in good shape yet, and its original window shims and it still works yet, the only issue it has is that the push-buttons are a little stiff but if you push them hard enough they do engage, but they don't engage with a soft touch like they would of originally, I'm assuming that's because the original grease in them has hardened over time and has caused the push-buttons to become stiff over time.

I have some pictures of the unit below, it does have a Redmond Direct-Drive motor which is kind of noisy when its first starting up but then when its up to speed it quiets down, and runs normally (it buzzes when its coming up to speed, but once its up to speed the buzzing goes away.)

 

[Levi Mevis]

I picked it up to use it up in my attic window to use like a whole house fan to draw cool air up from the basement windows and blow the hot air out the attic but the fan unfortunately is too big for my attic windows (the attic windows are 23" wide and the fan with the side spans pushed all the way in measures 29" wide) so I was wondering if the same concept could be achieved by just installing the fan in one of my front main level windows and then having some of my basement windows open and the rest of the windows in my house shut and then running the fan that way? The reason why I'm asking is because my house is a single story house with a walk-up attic and a basement so technically the house is only a single story house. 

[Levi Mevis]

OK so does someone have one of these fans that has a bad motor or something but still has a good switch assembly? I'm asking because the power switch/reverse switch assembly is broken, and what I mean by broken is that the switch buttons are stuck and won't depress anymore (its like they are seized up.)

And if no one has a switch they can spare, can they give me some information on how to restore the switch assembly back to operational again, or perhaps to a feebay listing for a similar switch assembly?

[Chris Jacobsen]

30 minutes ago, Levi Mevis said:

OK so does someone have one of these fans that has a bad motor or something but still has a good switch assembly? I'm asking because the power switch/reverse switch assembly is broken, and what I mean by broken is that the switch buttons are stuck and won't depress anymore (its like they are seized up.)

And if no one has a switch they can spare, can they give me some information on how to restore the switch assembly back to operational again, or perhaps to a feebay listing for a similar switch assembly?

I would first try to rejuvenate the switches.  It is probably the most economical and if you do find another, probably will be similar, hopefully not worse.  Give em a soak and scrub, then can use Deoxit to lube and protect as well as axle grease on the other moving parts.  From the sound of it, your switch is saveable.  Probably want to clean and lube your motor too before putting to use.

[Levi Mevis]

6 minutes ago, Chris Jacobsen said:

I would first try to rejuvenate the switches.  It is probably the most economical and if you do find another, probably will be similar, hopefully not worse.  Give em a soak and scrub, then can use Deoxit to lube and protect as well as axle grease on the other moving parts.  From the sound of it, your switch is saveable.  Probably want to clean and lube your motor too before putting to use.

I'm not sure how to get the switch taken apart, it appears to be riveted together, but the weird thing is, that the switch did work somewhat until I used some contact cleaner on the switch and that was when the switch finally seized up, which I'm not sure how contact cleaner would of made the switch push buttons seize up... 🤔

I did oil the motor up with some 30wt non-detergent oil, and the motor runs nice and smooth when I tried it out before the switch seized up.

Edited July 27, 2023 by Levi Mevis

[Chris Jacobsen]

12 minutes ago, Levi Mevis said:

I'm not sure how to get the switch taken apart, it appears to be riveted together, but the weird thing is, that the switch did work somewhat until I used some contact cleaner on the switch and that was when the switch finally seized up, which I'm not sure how contact cleaner would of made the switch push buttons seize up... 🤔

I did oil the motor up with some 30wt non-detergent oil, and the motor runs nice and smooth when I tried it out before the switch seized up.

I would drill the rivets, can secure with screws, new rivets or other.  I consider them a minor barrier.  It should be serviceable.  Likely you are fighting old grease, maybe rust and dirt.  If you can, actually take apart that motor and clean the old grease off as it sounds like you are planning to use ir regularly as an appliance and prefer it to be reliable.  Not cleaning the old stuff may damage the bearings if sand, rust and/or abrasive dirt settled in there, the new oil will help that stuff to flow again.  Like a vintage car that has been sitting for 40yr, you probably would not choose to run it on the old oil in the pan.

[Tom Zapf]

LEVI I WOULD LAY THE FAN FACE DOWN WITH THE SWITCH ATTACHED AND DRIZZLE A LIGHT OIL DOWN THE SIDES OF THE ACTUAL PUSHBUTTONS THEMSELVES.  USE THE LITTLE RED STRAW TO TRY TO GET A BIT OF WD40 OR SWITCH CLEANER TO SOAK DOWNWARDS...ALSO ONE THING THAT MIGHT FREE UP THE BUTTONS IS TO "PULL" THE BUTTONS UP SO THEY ARE ALL EXTENDED AND TRY TO WORK THEM TO FREE UP THE JAM

YOU HAVE A GOOD FAN AND YOU CAN USE IT IN YOUR ATTIC WINDOW . SIT THE FAN ON THE SILL SO THE 20" BLADE PART FACES YOUR 23" OPENING. USE SMALL ANGLE BRACKETS OR SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THAT TO KEEP THE FAN MOUNTED TO THE WINDOW FRAME (IT WILL OVER HANG ON BOTH SIDES BUT THE BOTTOM WILL SIT ON THE SILL AND THE TOP WILL BE ANCHORED TO THE WINDOW FRAME). YOU CAN USE THE FAN IN A MAIN FLOOR WINDOW, BUT BE CAREFUL OF OPENING BASEMENT WINDOWS, IF YOU HAVE A GAS HOT WATERHEATER OR OIL/GAS FURNACE AS THE FAN CAN BRING AIR DOWN THE FLUES. I DONT KNOW IF YOU HAVE A DAMP BASEMENT AND USE A DEHUMIDIFIER, IN WHICH CASE OPEN WINDOWS ARENT GOOD. I WOULD USE THE FAN IN THE ATTIC. THAT MOTOR HAS SPRING LOADED OIL CAPS OVER THE PORTS IT IS VERY WELL MADE. THE LATER MODELS WENT TO THE GE EXPORT MOTOR

[Levi Mevis]

Well actually the funny thing is, this fan was taken out of regular service just a couple of years ago, the guy I got it from got it from a lady that had it in a window in the attic of her house where she used it every summer to ventilate the house, so I'm not too concerned about the motor. The Switch however I am concerned about and the fact that the switch's housing is plastic as well as the back cover I don't feel comfortable drilling out the rivets on those because I'm afraid I might accidentally damage the switch more than it already is, that's why I was hoping to try and source another switch.

[Levi Mevis]

3 minutes ago, Tom Zapf said:

LEVI I WOULD LAY THE FAN FACE DOWN WITH THE SWITCH ATTACHED AND DRIZZLE A LIGHT OIL DOWN THE SIDES OF THE ACTUAL PUSHBUTTONS THEMSELVES.  USE THE LITTLE RED STRAW TO TRY TO GET A BIT OF WD40 OR SWITCH CLEANER TO SOAK DOWNWARDS...ALSO ONE THING THAT MIGHT FREE UP THE BUTTONS IS TO "PULL" THE BUTTONS UP SO THEY ARE ALL EXTENDED AND TRY TO WORK THEM TO FREE UP THE JAM

YOU HAVE A GOOD FAN AND YOU CAN USE IT IN YOUR ATTIC WINDOW . SIT THE FAN ON THE SILL SO THE 20" BLADE PART FACES YOUR 23" OPENING. USE SMALL ANGLE BRACKETS OR SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THAT TO KEEP THE FAN MOUNTED TO THE WINDOW FRAME (IT WILL OVER HANG ON BOTH SIDES BUT THE BOTTOM WILL SIT ON THE SILL AND THE TOP WILL BE ANCHORED TO THE WINDOW FRAME). YOU CAN USE THE FAN IN A MAIN FLOOR WINDOW, BUT BE CAREFUL OF OPENING BASEMENT WINDOWS, IF YOU HAVE A GAS HOT WATERHEATER OR OIL/GAS FURNACE AS THE FAN CAN BRING AIR DOWN THE FLUES. I DONT KNOW IF YOU HAVE A DAMP BASEMENT AND USE A DEHUMIDIFIER, IN WHICH CASE OPEN WINDOWS ARENT GOOD. I WOULD USE THE FAN IN THE ATTIC. THAT MOTOR HAS SPRING LOADED OIL CAPS OVER THE PORTS IT IS VERY WELL MADE. THE LATER MODELS WENT TO THE GE EXPORT MOTOR

That's good to know, and yes I do have a gas water heater, and furnace, but the furnace is a high efficiency furnace I just had installed last fall so it uses a pvc pipe out the side of the wall of the basement so I don't think the furnace would be affected by opening the basement windows, but maybe the waterheater might because it does vent out to the old furnace chimney.

As for my basement and whether or not its wet or dry, my basement is fairly dry, no moisture issues because the way my house was built (which is kind of unusual for a 1920s Bungalow) is that my house is built almost like a bi-level, where the basement has full height ceilings and has day-light windows in the basement, and the main level has 9 foot ceilings and then the attic is a walk-up attic that is unfinished but has openable double-hung windows in the attic on 3 side of the attic and then a stationary day-light window in the front of the attic.

[Levi Mevis]

OK I have a slight problem, I managed to get the switch assembly freed up again, but when I took the switch assembly out of the fan to work on it, I forgot to take pictures of how it was originally wired up and when I went to wire it back up how I thought I remembered it being wired up originally the fan just stays on all the time (except for when the thermostat knob is rotated towards the off position) and the switch has absolutely no effect on turning on or off the fan, any ideas as to what I may have wired up wrong on the switch, or perhaps someone have one of these fans that is functioning properly that they can get a picture of the wiring on the switch so that I can see how its supposed to be wired up, so I can double check my work?

Also is there a possibility that the switch may have failed outright when I went to try and free it up and that might be causing the fan to stay on all the time and the switch assembly to not have any effect on turning on and off the fan?

Also has anyone ever heard of the spade connectors in this fan mechanically failing before? I'm asking because a couple of the spade connectors that went went to the capacitor lead and the spade connector to the thermostat switch to the back of the push-button switch to the motor both broke at the spot where the spade connectors bent over and "crimped" around the back of the connector so that the connector would hold onto the terminal.  

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by Levi Mevis

[Tom Zapf]

I DONT HAVE ONE TO CHECK FOR YOU . IT IS POSSIBLE THE SWITCH DID GO BAD, BUT DO THE SPEED SELECTIONS AND REVERSE WORK? IF YOU WIRED IT WRONG THEN THEY WOULD MOST LIKELY BE OFF KILTER AS WELL . IT IS POSSIBLE THE OFF FUNCTION IS STUCK ON . WHEN YOU TURN THE  THERMO KNOB TO "OFF" DOES THE LIGHT COME ON? IF THE SPEEDS, THERMO AND LIGHT WORK, IT MIGHTS JUST BE THE SHUTOFF THAT IS STUCK 

YES SPADE CONNECTORS BREAK OFF ON MY TOO SO I DONT THINK THAT IS UNUSUAL. THEY ARE LIGHT LITTLE METAL , SMALL AND DELICATE 

I AM SURE SOMEONE HAS THE WIRING DIAGRAM ON A FAN THEY OWN 

[Levi Mevis]

Yes the thermo-knob when rotated shuts the fan off and triggers the light, when I try to push the buttons to turn on the fan and go through the speeds when I have the fan turned on with the thermo-knob the fan is on High and when I try to switch it to a different speed it doesn't slow down or speed up the motor and the off button doesn't do anything to turn the fan off either. The weird thing is that before I took the fan apart to remove the switch so I could free up the push-buttons which were having problems with sticking the fan worked fine. 

[Levi Mevis]

Unfortunately the switch is done for, I lifted the top cover on the switch just enough to take a peek underneath at the switches and the push-buttons are all damaged, which is why it doesn't push in and out smoothly anymore. 

Edited July 28, 2023 by Levi Mevis

[Chris Jacobsen]

Time, heat and age will do that to old plastic.  Might be better off trying to cast repros from resin if nobody does it already.

[Levi Mevis]

33 minutes ago, Chris Jacobsen said:

Time, heat and age will do that to old plastic.  Might be better off trying to cast repros from resin if nobody does it already.

Problem is the switch buttons don't come out very easy, they are held into place with a little metal retaining pin that goes through the phenolic wafers that move back and forth to activate and deactivate each setting which is then held into place with the different contacts on top that each phenolic wafer lifts and lowers. 

Surprisingly enough only one of the push-buttons survived intact, and that was the blue button on the forward and reverse airflow poprtion of the switch.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Levi Mevis

[Chris Jacobsen]

8 minutes ago, Levi Mevis said:

Problem is the switch buttons don't come out very easy, they are held into place with a little metal retaining pin that is molded into the plastic housing. 

I am guessong a replacement will be similar.  Would need to fully dosassemble the awitch and see if it can be cast somehow or 3D printed.  Probably casting would be stronger.  Maybe even carving new ones.

[Levi Mevis]

I once had an old Sears Homart Cooler Fan from the same time period as this fan and that fan also had a push-button type switch and I ended up finding on feebay a couple of old blender push-button switches that I was able to take the guts out of to repair the original switch on that fan but when I try to search ebay for the type of switch I need for this fan nothing comes up, except for industrial automation switches.

[Chris Jacobsen]

7 hours ago, Levi Mevis said:

I once had an old Sears Homart Cooler Fan from the same time period as this fan and that fan also had a push-button type switch and I ended up finding on feebay a couple of old blender push-button switches that I was able to take the guts out of to repair the original switch on that fan but when I try to search ebay for the type of switch I need for this fan nothing comes up, except for industrial automation switches.

See now that is clever!  Blender switches make sense.  I cannot imagine much else that had this style pushbuttons.  However the specially shaped back may be an issue.  Also I would not imagine spare parts are so common as this is the sort of fan that until fairly recently with collecting would have been tossed into the trash.  I imagine many people still would toss these regardless of the new fans being much more qualified as garbage.  

[Levi Mevis]

2 minutes ago, Chris Jacobsen said:

See now that is clever!  Blender switches make sense.  I cannot imagine much else that had this style pushbuttons.  However the specially shaped back may be an issue.  Also I would not imagine spare parts are so common as this is the sort of fan that until fairly recently with collecting would have been tossed into the trash.  I imagine many people still would toss these regardless of the new fans being much more qualified as garbage.  

Exactly, unfortunately I think scarcity wise, I think these old 1950s fan push-button switches are about as scarce if not scarcer than the old ceiling fan snap switches from the turn of the last century and they unfortunately had the same weakness which was that they were both very fragile parts that broke very easily.

[Chris Jacobsen]

9 hours ago, Levi Mevis said:

Exactly, unfortunately I think scarcity wise, I think these old 1950s fan push-button switches are about as scarce if not scarcer than the old ceiling fan snap switches from the turn of the last century and they unfortunately had the same weakness which was that they were both very fragile parts that broke very easily.

On the bright side it is much easier to make plastic parts than porcelain and metal contacts.  I would have no hesitation attempting to make those if I needed them.

[Levi Mevis]

On 7/29/2023 at 12:11 PM, Chris Jacobsen said:

On the bright side it is much easier to make plastic parts than porcelain and metal contacts.  I would have no hesitation attempting to make those if I needed them.

The problem is, I don't have the equipment to make these parts. 

[Chris Jacobsen]

1 hour ago, Levi Mevis said:

The problem is, I don't have the equipment to make these parts. 

Got my resin kit from here.  Resin is a bit pricey but the best way to make a sturdy repro piece.  This and a dremel kit should go far.

https://www.brickintheyard.com/