Fan slow to start or won't startup - Easy Fix!

Do you have a small electric fan that won't start or starts very slow? You need to view this video! Here we will demonstrate a slow starting fan and how to correct the problem. Then we will demonstrate the repaired fan. This is an easy fix for a very common problem that most anyone could perform.

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Wayne

[MTMabowels]

Brilliant. With this knowledge I was able to save our "Lloytron" fan from the skip. Disassembling the fan for me seemed easier than it was for you. I found a large plastic nut holding the fan on. The thread was opposite to all others I've come across - anticlockwise to tighten). A similar large nut was then removed to take the cage off. The fan had come away with a gentle tug. I think my fan has been design with easy access in mind, say for cleaning, and the housing came off after about ten minutes when I had found a flat head screwdriver small enough to fit the clips. The plastic was flexible enough not to break.

The motor screws were as shown in you video.

The motor didn't come away however so I had to try to remove the oscillator gear box at the back (only two more screws) to access the rear bearing.

I then discovered another reason I think my fan was designed with this sort of maintenance in mind. The oscillator gearbox merely needed to be pulled back by a small amount (exposing what looked like a conical grub wheel). I didn't need to remove it at all.

All in all, once the fan and its enclosure had been removed, I had a mere six screws to remove. No more. To think my wife wanted me to scrap the fan....!!

I have a couple of photos of this if you are interested. I would have liked them to accompany this response, but I don't know if or how this can be done here.

I used a tiny amount of "FELLOWES Performance oil" to lubricate the bearings. I bought this from Amazon along with a paper shredding machine a few months ago. I think it is vegetable based and, as I anticipated, it was ideal for this purpose. The fans is working perfectly now. Seems faster too, and it's really very quiet now.

Thanks for your help.

[domrocks]

Thank you for this! My father died aged 56, so I don’t have anyone to teach me this stuff! Hopefully I’ll soon be the handiest Mum in town!

[Strobie_one]

Oh man I’m so glad 😌 found this video. It’s very thrown away dozens of fans over the years when all I needed was a dollar of sewing machine oil!

[Mannu-ouvz]

As a budding mechanic, I give this video a thumbs up! It's informative, easy to understand, and gets straight to the point.

[giorgioortiz]

Thank you Wayne! My wife wanted to throw out the fan but I figured there must be a simple fix. I grew up without a dad (and without much stuff to break or fix) so I'm learning all this as an adult!

[antispaz]

When I heard his accent I knew I found the right video. Thanks!

[luiscastillo]

I had to go back to the dumpster to retrieve the Holmes Blizzard I had thrown away. Tried your fix and it worked. However, I had to use WD-40 as that's all I had. I will buy oil and do it right. Thank you sir!

[David-fglr]

Thank you so much 🙂
I just spent ten minutes and a couple of drops of oil and got an old fan going smoothly and nicely again. You probably saved me $40 and a trip to the hardware store. Thank you again sir !!!

[christian.hansen]

I think you will succeed because you come across very honest with all American goodness that is a rarity these days.

[paisley]

Just fixed the fan for my mom-in-law; it would not turn at all. I blew the dust off, unscrewed all but one of the cover screws (it was seized); swung the cover to the side, did not move the motor assembly at all, but placed a couple of drops of Singer motor oil on the main shaft. Worked like a charm and was done in 10 minutes. Thanks so much!!

[dmcd]

Thank you! You saved a maybe 70 year old beautiful fan from either never being used again or thrown away. Now it works better than I ever remember it working.

[jamesmanning]

Dude! Fiddled for 2 hours changing the capacitor in my extractor hood fan. Fan had delayed and random starting. It didn't help! Almost gave up then wondered if it was mechanical and came across this video. Fiddled about getting to the fan and it was greased up so I cleaned and oiled like in the video. It's working! You saved me at least temporarily £450 English pounds. Thank you!

[alb]

Have a small expensive heat circulator fan that was experiencing same slow start problems. Took it a part and it’s working so much better after a few drops of oil. Thanks to your video, it’s as good as new.

[andrewparker]

Just did this to fix my desk fan that is 13 years old. Worked like a charm! Thanks for the help!

[The_Wndr]

You sir just saved me from having to buy a brand new fan! It worked like a charm! Thank you all the way from Europe.

[TomMankowski]

Another satisfied customer. Last year thought the slow start was due to a faulty on/off switch. Tried spray electrical terminal cleaner with no improvements. This year the blade would not even start turning slowly. Your "oil the bearing" tip fixed the fan. Thank you!

[fanguyb]

Well explained and simple as someone who repairs and restores fans from the 60’s through the early 90’s I’ve started also doing this with my modern daily driver fans that I’m not collecting. You’d be amazed at how little lubrication most modern fans leave from the factory with and once they get proper service like this they perform and last much longer. My go to oil is the 3 in 1 oil in the blue label bottle for fans and zoom spout I’ve gotten great results from using these oils and a bottle will last for many years because like you said it doesn’t take much. I highly recommend doing this simple maintenance once or twice per year depending upon the frequency you use the fans. Usually I clean the guards, blow out the motor and wipe down the blades monthly to keep peek performance because dust drastically reduces the airflow.

[shadowshade]

Great video, this is exactly the problem my small desk fan had after I air dusted it today. Opened it up, wiped out the dust and gunk and got slow spinning fan blades. My larger fan that died on me a while ago might have the same issue, I just never found the time. Might have two fans back thanks to you! Tracking down where to get machine oil now!

[jusschillin]

My fan was slow to start just now. I applied your method and now it's back running like I just copped it 👍🏾

[robynconway]

I have found this the answer to my slow fan and will try this. I have a 40cm floor fan blades just began to not start spinning. I will get some oil Singer Sewing Machine Oil and work on it.
I am a retired single lady and love to learn how to fix things.

Thank you once again kind Sir.
Robyn
Australia