Estate Sale early 70's era Kmart box fan cleaning and oiling

[@dynatrak]

That's a nice find! No surprise it powered right up, and worked as found. I have one from 1974, plastic blades, no thermostat, I refurbished a year, or so ago. Before refurbishment, the thermal protection would shut down the motor after an hour, or so. Upon disassembly, I found it was completely packed with dirt! Now, it's a good runner. My McMillian motor has the date code 4 74, in yellow, stamped on the stator. Might check the perimeter of your stator for the date code, unless the cleaner removed it. Seems like I caught a glimpse of it, when you had it on it's side.

[@OldCarAlley]

I got my flashlight and looked...... August 71. It's all there in plain sight.... very visible. Thank you. My folks had a K-Mart box fan that was like this one without a thermostat and a plastic blade. It was quiet and smooth too. My brother has it, and uses it still. It's from the late 70's.

[@dynatrak]

@@OldCarAlley Awesome, I'm glad you found it! Thanks for letting me know. I missed out on getting one of those late 70's ones, when I got the 1974. Perhaps another will show up someday. Here is a video I did about my 1974 K Mart K223: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHzTp3qrm6eGkNU

[@OldCarAlley]

@@dynatrak Your fan is awesome. My folks had the exact same fan.... my brother wanted it. It's still like new.

[@dynatrak]

@@OldCarAlley Thanks! From what I can find, these blades were used from 1974-1978. Yes, it's great to have some well cared for family items! I'm sure that fan your brother has, will go another 45+ years.

[@OldCarAlley]

@@dynatrak I just picked up a tan K-Mart box fan with the plastic blade. It was 25% off ten bucks. Looks hardly used as the motor and blade are spotless.... thats why I bought it. It runs smooth and quiet, but docent move the air like the blue one with the metal blade does. I thought maybe it was early 80's as I purchased one new in the early 80's just like it. The motor seized up in the first season I used it. I tried to free it up, but it ruined the bushings, so I threw it out. I'll be uploading a video of it soon.

[@1957kwick]

Back in the day even when the cheap stuff was made well.👍

[@majorpayne5289]

👍🇺🇸

[@joegreen7616]

Growing up in our house we never had ac…just fans…remember when you would yell into the fan just to see how it would change the sound of your voice…free entertainment…lol.

[@OldCarAlley]

Totally.... I remember doing that, and the no A/C part too. We would put the big box fans in the windows at night, then mom would close the house up during the day..... the house stayed much cooler than outside. It was just those nights that stayed hot, a fan was a must!

[@DBVintage]

You have to love old fans. They just don’t quit. I usually just take the motor apart, clean the bearings and shafts and add a drop of oil to each as I reassemble. It’s kind of like rebuilding an engine.

[@williamroberts4049]

We had a fan like that when we were married in early 1978 another memories 👍

[@ncautoman57]

We did also same year. Our fan caught on fire during the night luckily my wife woke up and I tossed it out in the yard.

[@Bobbythefanman]

I have an old galaxy box fan from way back in the 80s these old box fans where very well made fans

[@brianhdueck3372]

I can feel the draft all the way up here near Winnipeg! Nice find. I really enjoy those old pieces you bring back to life.

[@OldCarAlley]

I've been using it for a few days now. I'm glad I bought it.... I almost didn't, other than it was 50% off day..... that made it ten bucks, but then she said give me nine bucks for everything.... I got a few other things too.

[@atticusblack-sg5co]

box fan

[@OBC-radio]

My grandma had that identical Kmart fan. The sound of the fan immediately brought me back to hot summer nights staying at my grandma’s house. They are great fans, and move a lot more air than the cheap modern fans. My grandparents bought it new at got at least 30 years continuous use out of it. I miss the old Kmart of the 70/80s/early 90s that sold quality merchandise at discount prices.

[@OldCarAlley]

I ended up looking at tons of vintage K-Mart ad's, looking for fans. Found no fans, but a lots of interesting old ad's popped up why looking. I ended up looking at them for almost two hours.......

[@DCR52]

Wow, that thing is moving some air. That's a good one. Good find !!

[@markjohnston3502]

My parents had several of that esp in blue. We had a brown or rust-colored one. Very dependable.

[@rogercamp6071]

We had a couple of similar fans when I was a kid,a Hunter and one was called a Kord (don't know who made it though) we also had a huge Homart (Sears) window fan in Mom and Dad's bedroom that had the most beautiful sound when it was running.

[@OldCarAlley]

There was a belt driven Homart at the same estate sale but someone else grabbed it just before I did. Thats ok though, I grabbed the K-Mart fan before he did. I'd much rather have the K-Mart fan.... it's a keeper. The Homart I would had cleaned up and sold it.

[@glenbo2464]

I love that its genuine Kmart brand and colors ! Robins egg blue. We shopped at Kmart for 40 years until it folded. Miss that store actually.

[@OldCarAlley]

Same here. Their auto section was decent. I often went there and purchased stuff.

[@nicholas790]

Hew Howard! Nice to see you clean up that fan! It's a pretty nice design with the buttons and a Thermostat. Also love that powder blue color! Really retro. Would love to see you repaint it in that color! It would be sooo worth it! Those blades cleaned up (and shined) surprisingly well! We had some like that, I think they came from White Front here in Ca. Really didn't appreciate them like I would now. So cool that you're collecting them. That Bleche White is pretty pricey here. and pretty hard to find. Besides mine, not too many cars with white walls out here. so I guess there's not much of a market anymore. Anyway, thanks for the video (and memories).

[@OldCarAlley]

I have been using and enjoying the old fan. I'm going to try to find a paint color that matches, as it would look awesome with new paint.

[@semectual]

in 2009 I bought a modern version of this fan (that I still have) , it was one of last fans manufactured by Lakewood a few years before they went out of Business. However, my Grandmother had a fan like this in a beige color back in the 80s.

[@OldCarAlley]

Yea, the K-Mart fans were identical to Lakewood, because Lakewood made them for K-Mart, painted in the "Mart" logo color with the K-Mart name. I think Lakewood made more money from the K-Mart brand, than there own brand.

[@majorpayne5289]

👍Score

[@colin_5839]

That thing cleaned up really nice! Those old Lakewood box fans are really great fans! Just a couple things to consider: revarnishing the stator is super easy and really helps to extend the life of the fan quite a bit. Also I'm not sure what oil is in your can but for fan motors you want to use either the BLUE CAN of 3 in 1 or better yet get yourself a can of zoom spout oil and use that in all your fans. Nice find!!

[@OldCarAlley]

I do have a bottle of Zoom oil. A friend that worked at a shop where they rebuild electric motors told me to use 20W-20 or 10W-20 non detergent oil in fans..... so thats what I have used for a couple decades. I plan on disassembling the fan completely to repaint the cabinet, as I really like the fan, plus I have been using it in my house every night to circulate air and want it to look new. I looked at the hardware for a rattle can that might match the color with no luck. I might just take the fan to the GNC paint center and have a quart of automotive acrylic enamel mixed to match. What do you use to varnish the windings? I have some spray varnish, will that work, or do I need to get something special? I also just picked up another K-Mart fan from the early 80's.... a tan one with a plastic blade. I don't think it was used much, as the motor and blade look new.... thats why I purchased it. It does not move near the air the blue, metal blade fan moves. It is smooth and very quiet though. A video will be up with it on Monday evening.

[@funny36ful]

@@OldCarAlleyi use electrical insulating varnish from McMaster Carr with good results

[@OldCarAlley]

@@funny36fulThank you for the info.

[@grege6287]

Lakewood Engineering had another product line to offset the summer fan business. They manufactured the traditional red and green steel three legged Christmas tree stands for winter sales. Another big seller at Kmart...

[@OldCarAlley]

Interesting, I did not know that.

[@winros]

I am refurbishing one right now! It was so disgusting! I didn't film it I just took pictures however, I might upload a video of the box fan in picture style! ✌🏼

[@jdgimpa]

We had one like that on a stand. You can still buy Lakewood fans at Wallyworld!

[@OldCarAlley]

Yea, but they're 100% plastic..... and I doubt they're made here.

[@tomlewis3658]

I have not really noticed details about box fans before, but I noticed it has 3 blades, and also the fan in your house has 3 blades. Was that a K-Mart or Lakewood thing? And for something that might by now be 50 years old, pretty good that it looks & works so well.

[@OldCarAlley]

Thats just how Lakewood made fans..... The K-Mart fan was just rebranded in a different color, and some even in the tan Lakewood color.

[@YourLocalSnag]

The pain watching you wet the motor 😩😟

[@OldCarAlley]

That cleans all the crud out of the motor. The KEY is not powering it up until the motor is 100% dry. I blew the motor out with compressed air after washing it. It docent hurt the motor at all! I have cleaned fan motors out like that for decades, with never having an issue. I did oil the motor after washing it out. The fan works great.... been using it in my house every night since. It runs in the bedroom all night.

[@Lukey06]

​@@OldCarAlley yeah, but the thing about drenching the motor with a garden hose is not only would the chemicals and the water ruin the motor overtime, but it can wear out the insulation on he copper woundings overtime which can cause a motor burn out, so its better to take the blade off the shaft to wash it away from the motor, and compress the motor with compressed air along with oiling it.

[@leev2463]

just ruined the motor

[@dcformee123]

Hi Howard this is spackmaster Chavez I've been trying to get ahold of you but I just can't seem to figure out where to look to be able to email you. I sure like to be able to talk to you one-on-one I had a tragic thing happened two days ago my mother passed away so now we have even more in common you lost your father a year ago and I lost my Mom 2 days ago and I can hardly stand it and I have nobody to talk to and it's kind of sad you know what I mean when you have no kids who's going to take care of me when I croak I always worry about that but at least I was here for my mom me and my sister but I do love the old box fans they're the best you crank them up on high and they move some air boy? Those are my favorite if I can find a couple of them I'd be doing good my sister did find a couple old Christmas lights I think you called d9s but I'm not positive the big ones big old fashioned bulbs but these are the kind that blink which are so hard to find so that's so cool those are the ones I love little blinking ones like you have on your beautiful little tree in the backyard. Okay you take care of yourself my friend I hope you're feeling better too.

[@OldCarAlley]

OMG, so sorry for your loss. I lost my mom 13 years ago and my dad two years ago. KZbin blocks comments with emails..... my email is on my "about" page. I picked up another K-Mart box fan at an estate sale yesterday, I think it's from the early 80's as it's a tan one. I also picked up a NOS 25 light set of Holly C9 twinklers in different estate sale.... the sets with blinker bulbs are super hard to find. I will make a video of the blinking C9's closer to Christmas, as I already made one with the fan, so I can't add video to it. The video with the fan will be up Sunday or Monday.

[@damianjninjutsu]

Those old box fans are hard to find.

[@OldCarAlley]

Often people just put them out to the trash when they got dirty.

[@damianjninjutsu]

What a waste of Good fans I like vintage Box fans

[@OldCarAlley]

@@damianjninjutsu How is it a waste? I have been using it for months now. I saved it from the trash!

[@damianjninjutsu]

@@OldCarAlley people throwing away good fans If I see a fan like that at Goodwill or a thrift store I'll probably buy me one of those .

[@damianjninjutsu]

If I ever see a fan like that at Goodwill or a thrift store I'll buy it and put it by my bed .