Zero (Edison Electric) Box Fan Help

[Daniel Herczeg]

I tried reversing the blades, and I think I found out why they were backwards: the fan has some rattling noise that I can't locate, and it's quieter with the blades on the other way.

[Mark Olson]

👍

[Daniel Herczeg]

So I ran it a bit, and reversing the blades has somehow revealed the flaw of it having a 120hz electrical hum on low, and a 60hz electrical hum on medium, in addition to the loud noise on medium and high. Is there even a remedy to this?

[Greg Calmly]

I see alot of issues with this fan right off the bat. The motor buzzing is an immediate red flag that it needs varnish and has loose windings, and the gargling rattle means its either misaligned or the bearings are scored beyond repair. The motor needs to be split apart and looked at. 

Now I understand you want the fan fixed but as I looked through this thread, it seems you were unwilling to attempt others ideas besides the blades being backwards, in which when you finally flipped them it fixed a few things.

Take my advice with a grain of salt but with my experience I can tell you that motor is gonna blow soon without care.

To start, take the motor apart, and observe the shaft where it contacts the bearings and look for grooves/deep marks. If it looks fine, I suggest cleaning out the existing oil and re-oiling it with zoomspout or 3 in 1 BLUE can. Put the motor together and make sure the bolts are tightened equally. If it sounds better then it might have been misalignment. 

For the buzzing look for some varnish. "sprayon El-600" is a good starter varnish. Apply a few coats to the windings (dont breath the varnish in btw) and let it dry for some hours.

If it still buzzes I suggest looking into a thicker style varnish that brushes on like paint.

The humming is something I would take care of last. What I said here has a chance of hitting 2 birds with 1 stone.

Try this and it might run like new. But remember, if you dont try dont expect a remedy. 👍

 

[Daniel Herczeg]

Thank you for the help, I will be sure to try that. I'm not worried about the motor humming, as it seems to only do that on startup, and otherwise run well. Another one of my fans does this, but runs silent about 30 seconds after startup. However, it's a model of GE desk fan that is hard to open, so I probably can't help it.

[Greg Calmly]

Did you ever fix it?

[Daniel Herczeg]

I did not. The problem seems to have gone away entirely. The fan now runs smooth and silent.

[Justin McInvale]

Sometimes loose rivets that hold the blade to the hub can cause noise at certain speeds.