Fantastic Fast Fan Fix

[@matthiaswandel]

Cool. I added your video to the end of my article on fixing the fan

[@bmetal2]

+Matthias Wandel, woodworkers in Canada rock!!!

[@IBuildIt]

+Matthias Wandel Thanks, and thanks for all of the interesting videos :)

[@SMU_3L]

+onlyfornintendo Can you even read? If so, check out the description

[@ODX171]

I too have a box fan which I bought maybe 15 years ago. Every spring for the last 5 years or so I've opened all the fans in my house and cleaned them for the warmer season. Each fan also get a few drops of 3 in 1 oil on both bearings. If any of them doesn't power down smoothly during operation through the summer months I will add another drop or two of oil. Doing this every year has become a routine for me and has prolonged the fans use. You will get many more years out of that fan with regular maintenance and don't trash it if you no longer wish to use it.... DONATE IT ! Someone will appreciate having one that they maybe cannot afford.GJ for posting this.

[@TheGeekPub]

LOL! This is woodworkers fixing fans week!

[@bloggermouth]

I guess it is the natural tinkerer in me but I have never thrown a fan out because of the common issue fans are plagued with. It could be that I hate throwing things out. Either way, thanks to you and Matthias for doing a video like this to show people how easy it is to fix a simple thing that has only one moving part.

[@alysononoahu8702]

Me too...

[@moehoward01]

I had a floor standing fan with dirty blades that just wasn't moving very much air. I cleaned the blades and it made a HUGE difference in how much air was moved so, yeah, clean blades work a LOT better.

[@binnsh]

With a little more disassembly, I've done this on bath fans, an impact driver, and my clothes dryer, adds years of service. Beats a trip to the store.

[@TheAussieStig30]

That was FANtastic. Very COOL video. I'm a big FAN of your videos.

[@4th1fantasysportz41]

Cleaning the blades makes a big difference!!! Really does

[@seigeengine]

I did this to a couple of my fans a few months ago. This is amusing. I approve of the prospect of additional fan videos.

[@ronkappeler7981]

Good to see that you have get this blower running again. I think we need more fixing and repair vids!

[@denjhill]

Thanks, you validated my own repair philosophy: compressed air and lots of oil. Plan B is gentle persuasion with a hammer. I feel good now.

[@hunjoey]

Fan sales will drop drastically in the following months. :D

[@JohnSmith-ki2eq]

+hunjoey Winter : )

[@jebowlin3879]

+hunjoey Fans are out of season at the moment, people are still wanting them, but you realy cant get any right now anyway, js :D

[@sparkyprojects]

With that type of motor, the bearings are sintered bronze, you shouldn't use grease, but as you only want another year out of it, not a problem. The bearings are in a cup that has a felt washer behind them which is normally soaked in oil, the bearing takes up that oil. Normally there is a small hole that you can lubricate it, put plenty of 3 in one in there. Sometimes the bearing gets stuck to the shaft and turns in the cup, but you can take the motor apart and free them, then clean up the shaft. I've repaired many of those, except for the ones that have seized and overheated.

[@jimmybobhere]

I'm glad the oil got your shaft working again.

[@jaytechCFL]

Always good to see one of my favorite youtubers inspiring another one of my favorites. :-)

[@TheShavingWoodWorkshop]

Great to see new life in the old fan, I'm sure it will serve you well for quite a awhile.

[@gravitysports1]

Thanks for the video! I've tried many different types of oil on a continuous duty fan extracting humid air from my basement. None of them worked for more than two months till I tried automatic transmission fluid. Going strong after five months..

[@bigvegass]

Just did this to my fan. Wasn't working so well, not its back to running smoothly. Thanks to you and Matthias for this!

[@RobinLewisMakes]

A few months ago all the creators were mowing their lawns, is this the new must-do video?

[@jeffleonard8788]

cleaning the blades absolutely makes a difference. ive got a fan ive had for like 10 years (its a bigger more expensive model than this. LOL). every couple years it pretty much stops moving air. i clean the blades and it blows like a champ.

[@Retroweld]

Thanks for the vid John. I'm a FAN of your work too. lol :)

[@IBuildIt]

+RetroWeld Ha! It's FAN appreciation day :D

[@aserta]

They are pretty easy to fix, especially the older models that use more robust engines. I have about 16 years worth of life out of a cheap fan (then) just because each time it stops, i take it apart and wd40 the bearings. In the more "modern" ones they stopped putting sintered bearings and use straight up brass or a cheap alloy, because in addition to getting gunked up they also get loose and that's when you throw it out. As to how effective the thing is? If you run it and stop it often, it's not too good, once the bearing gets damaged it will continue to get worse faster and faster. But if you run it nonstop, which i have one of in my bathroom, not gonna die, hasn't yet.

[@SuperJamster1]

Two hints for fans. 1. Simplest wood dust collector is a box fan, a square filter that's the same size as fan, and two bungie cords to hold filter onto the intake side of fan. At work they were doing a lot of drywall sanding. Everyone laughed when I rigged up this fan, until they saw the 1/8 inch layer of drywall dust on the filter that occurred in the first couple of hours. 2. My old squirrel furnace fan motor is really old and was squealing. I just added a couple of drops of oil onto a cloth covered shaft bearing, been good for two years now. I didn't even know it had a cloth covering made for that.

[@leapinglemurcraftworks6426]

John, instead of throwing it out in a year or two, turn it into an air filtration unit for the shop - take care of the larger particles - it's paid for, all you need to do is strap on a filter to the intake sideScott

[@IBuildIt]

+The 2 Car Garage Shop I'm already working on one, but more sophisticated and using a better quality fan. It can be seen in the thumbnail of this video on the floor leaning against my lathe stand.

[@Wordsnwood]

Shoot, I'm behind. I haven't even done the lawnmower video, and now I need to do a fan also? ;-)

[@IBuildIt]

+wordsnwood Maybe fix a fan so that it will cut grass! :D

[@lion8lamb]

In my experience, cleaning the blades makes an enormous difference to the flow performance, especially at low fan speeds.

[@toolify]

Felt a breeze after you turned the fan on ;)

[@IBuildIt]

+FastEasySmartTOOL Now, that's good camera work :)

[@FLS713HTX]

Thanks! just fixed two fans, one like the one you had on video that someone threw out on the street, and a small black fan that had got jammed after falling to many times on the floor. Win win. Appreciate the help

[@RogerBaxterYT]

I make it a point to do this to my fans once or twice a season. Keeps them working like new for several years.

[@MaggieDozer]

Yeah! Lubricate the shaft.

[@brechtthebest]

If the fan wouldn't be worth saving because of its broken casement, you could make your own casement from wood. Or you could go further and make your own wooden fan with the motor of it. Would be a fun project.

[@DennisPadul]

I wonder who will be the next one to post a similar video... Steve? Jay?

[@JayBates]

+Dennis Padul Not me. I don't have any portable fans.

[@Durrdalus]

+Dennis Padul Izzy Swan with a fan blade making jig?

[@utkanf]

+Dennis Padul +jimmydiresta will make a fan with blades made out of axes !

[@seigeengine]

+Jay Bates You have no idea what your life is lacking.

[@DennisPadul]

Remember the time when someone made a video about mowing the lawn?

[@ChrisGerow]

been keeping all my fans on life support for years with regular maintenance, when you're done with this in the basement you can tape a furnace filter to it and use it filter the air in the shop....

[@christopherdahle9985]

My box fan quit about ten years ago, filled with more greasy sawdust and yuck than I wanted to fuss with. Nothing to lose right? I ran it through the dishwasher just to see if it would clean up. Looked pretty good and turned a lot easier, so I blasted the water out with compressed air and re-oiled the heck out of it. I repeat every couple of years. Paint's starting to come off, but it still works.

[@MRrwmac]

John thinks to himself "ok that's good thanks Matthias, but now I need to make a knob and handle".

[@SR20DETDOG]

This is great! Matthias releases his video one day and you've already fixed a fan the next. Something really satisfying about watching knowledge being shared and used like this.

[@Ryzomadman]

our local refuse recycle centre is always full of fans after the summer (yes even in Scotland we get three days of warm weather) I seems people rush out and buy fans and then dump them when the winter comes, looking at them I think most end up dumped as the fan rubs against the guard surround so easy to fix because they have fallen over .

[@dsgb1981]

I left my box fan running in the window while i went shopping and it rained while I was gone so the fan got a little wet. I turned it off and took it out of the window to let it dry for few days. When I plugged it back in and turned it on, it wouldn't work. Is there a simple fix or should I just buy another one?

[@Peteworth]

Zoom Spout oil is my favorite for fans. Lasts a long time.

[@mamadontteach4202]

Thank you @IBuildIt ! You saved the day for me.

[@joerodriguez6048]

Tape a 20 X 20 filter on the low pressure side. Clean your air and keep your fan clean

[@SteveCarmichael]

Woah, I just tried to turn on my fan last night and it was stuck too! Weird. I just fixed it in a few minutes. Thanks John and Matthias!

[@IBuildIt]

+Steve Carmichael Just watched yours Steve - fanominal! :)

[@Pete..]

The fact that people don't realize that dirty fan blades will slow down the air movement is wild to me. The blades are angled such that they push air forward and then need to spin at a certain rate to do that and any dust collection on the blades or dirt that built up will surely slow down the fan blades from moving as fast and the more dust buildup on the fan blades the more that can accumulate on top of that so it's best to keep the blades clean along with the plastic guards on the front and back and it's good to lubricate the motor, but it's better if you blow it out first and it's really better if you take the three screws out that hold the motor together and open it up slightly and clean out the dust and gunk that's in there be careful though you don't wanna move anything loose or hitting your wires and unfastened anything you should be good though if you just take like a paintbrush and brush it through there and get the dirt out use the air hose with the nozzle like he is in this video. i'm no expert That anything really I'm just a handyman of sorts. you say you're pretty handy in this video and you say you don't give up easy and no disrespect, but you questioned whether or not the dirt buildup on the fan blades would affect its performance. Are you serious? Maybe you just said that out loud by accident and you weren't thinking I'll give you that because there's no way you didn't know that I can't accept that lol anyway not trying to give anybody a hard time. I just had to scratch my head at that one like what anyway great video. Hope people learned a lot here.

[@jimdavidson5208]

Pretty handy about things, just not cleaning anything. Rip the chord from the wall. Half wipe the dust and mold off the blade.

[@baconsoda]

I wish we could get those box fans here because I want to make a simple portable air filter by attaching a furnace filter to it. Maybe that's a future use for your's instead of going in the garbage. Best Wishes, Brendan.

[@IBuildIt]

+baconsoda I'm already working on one, but using a better quality fan. It can be seen in part of this video on the floor leaning against my lathe stand.

[@baconsoda]

+I Build It Ah, thank you. Even more to look forward to. B

[@Slaters_RC]

+baconsoda you can buy box fans with a filter on them. I have one.

[@baconsoda]

+Mr1998jeepcherokee Thank you, I'll search UK and Ireland with that additional info. Best Wishes, Brendan.

[@abelvillarreal6488]

can't wait to get out to my garage to see if this little trick works.

[@PanduPoluan]

I need to buy that lubricant spray. Currently I use only Selley's RP7, and even though it works okay, it will gunk up again and seize the motor again. Maybe RP7 for initial unseizing + degreaser + silicone lube?

[@NJEsperantist]

I had to do this to the fan I use for my DIY dust collector. It used to 'moan' when I would turn it on. Now it works great.

[@martyvanord984]

many years ago I was sent to find a replacement for a bathroom vent fan and I ended up at a fan rewiring shop that was more interested in how things operate than hiding the truth. He showed me that modern fans do not stop working but run out of lubricant. His solution was to drill the bearings and add oil but he noted the old time fans ran forever that had oil tubes-- JUST USE 20 WEIGHT NON DETERGENT OIL, detergent oil leaves a film that gets sticky or gummy and sticks the fan rotor.

[@arnoldwayne6775]

Mine was slow and I opened it up and cleaned all the collected dust and grime from ot being in a window which is facing a construction site. These fans coils and capacitors are very important and when they wear down you start to have problems. Anyway take your fanz part and clean it through including the covers and it should start running better. If you start a fan and it doesn't come at all then you need to completely take it apart. Download a PDF of the schematics and print it out of you have a printer. Most of the time all you have to do is clean thoroughly and its should start working.

[@christophergibson4]

Thanks for the info. It blew me away.

[@tourguidechuck]

I did it and my fan I was going to trash works fine! Thanks!

[@thejwil45]

my fan fell and it made this wierd loud noise now it wont work right when it fell stopped working is thier reason? all the components are in place

[@FLS713HTX]

Same happened to mine, took it apart and cleaned it up real good and made sure the motor was running and spinning I used WD-40 and cleaned until it starting spinning real good, then I cleaned the blade and put it all back together and it was good as new.

[@Traderjoe]

I used to garbage pick and honestly, never found a fan like that that was not easily fixed the same way.

[@jetjazz05]

That's funny, I bought a fan 3 years ago, one of the "tower fans", and I haven't done anything to it. It runs at night in our bedroom, the wife likes the white noise (helps her to sleep), I'm kind of surprised it's survived being on for 11,000 hours so far.

[@raylovett9187]

I've been down this road. It's a temporary fix. Once the bearings inside on the shaft heat up enough to get hot and seize they're on borrowed time. You may get to lube it up a couple more times, but eventually it is going to grenade on you and the motor will not spin anymore. Walmart... $16... 20", 3 speeds... the "tight-wad's typhoon"

[@keegankeith4123]

hey do u still have that boxfan?

[@Crustyswede1]

I just watched Matthias's video and left a tip for doing what both of you are doing. Go back to his and take a look at my comment and give it a try some time. I'm not being critical in any way, just trying to share my experiences with you to shorten your frustrations. keep up the great videos. I watch you all the time.

[@ricomckennie1757]

I miss those D shaped blades BRING THEM BACK!!

[@budprine1591]

Hey John, I've been meaning to ask: Every time you use an air tool I never hear a compressor. Do you have it outside, hidden, what gives you all that silent air?

[@IBuildIt]

+Bud Prine In the corner. I just don't film anything when it's running.

[@johnlee847]

The canadian craftsman synergy is strong.

[@malcolmoxley1274]

hi, a lot of guys use this type of fan with filters on for dust control,maybe you will get another year out of it for that ?

[@louisdefilippi8982]

Note the nut that holds on the blades is reverse threaded!

[@civ8458]

Good job!

[@telosfd]

The mistake is that you didn't disassemply motor to clean the dust from the coils and better lubrication. After few hours of turning will stuck again.

[@1983mojo1]

FANtastic

[@doubledarefan]

That fan now needs an I Build It-style handle and knob.

[@heroknaderi]

Incredible job 😎😎😁👍

[@alanw64]

Good info -- thank you sharing!

[@MLDuffy]

Strange, I fixed one of my "broken" fans just before Halloween too... W-D 40 to the rescue! I'm surprised you just didn't build a new one out of scrap wood you had laying around for another masterpiece...

[@Sammy2012ify]

That box fan is actually very old. We can tell because your box fan has D shaped blades. D shaped bladed box fans have been discontinued since about 1999. All new plastic box fans have the thinner flower pedal blades. You name the brand. Lasko, Galaxy, Holmes, Lakewood. All the newer ones have thin flower pedal blades.

[@metal422life]

I think he was talking about himself mostly. Referring to his age in comparison with the fan. fan is not as old as his so, therefor it is not that old lol just finding random things on youtube and putting a input in

[@cxphrz]

I don’t have the oil for it what do I do?

[@eddiecarlcalhoun]

I WATCHED THAT VIDEO TOO AND DID A CLEANING AND LUBE ON MY SMALL OFFICE FAN....RUNS MUCH BETTER...

[@LottieSue]

None of my fans have a bolt in the middle to remove the blade or a single screw to remove the blade. How can take my fans apart?

[@GNiessen]

3-in-1 oil is probably better for the fan bearings than Lithium Grease. The motor speed is probably wanting a thinner lubricant than the grease

[@GeorgeGardinier]

i watch both of you and you both do the same thing wandel's was smaller, lol

[@TheDirtFighter]

You sir have incredibly speedy screw driver fingers :)

[@noncched6839]

How big is your shop?

[@ryantrogdon3667]

Will you stop using that nice table saw as a work bench! Ha! Love your videos.

[@mtemp2006]

Its amazing what a little lube on the shaft can do from time to time :)

[@jedslammer5159]

Hey l stay in a motel and they only turn the cooler on at night and I have a box fan they gave me to but it fucking sucks is there any way to make it spin faster and make it more cool please I'm dying from heat so any advice is extemly appreciated

[@blackemmons]

Well John, that's good to know. Thanks. JimE

[@brendanhay5788]

Dan Rojas from GreenPowerScience uses a fan to catch mosquitoes and NightHawkInLight used Dan's technique for a video on his channel. Did you ever try levitating a screwdriver with compressed air yet, their videos on NightHawkInLight and Applied Science.

[@mspeir]

You need to make a wooden replacement handle. ;)

[@MuseAmore]

Can I barrow the air pump?

[@timlipinski2571]

Make it better than knew and add a two foot (24 inch) square furnace filter. Then you will cut down on dusting and have a safer work area. Thank you for the great video ! tjl

[@lov55e]

Merci beaucoup,,, Thank you so much

[@btrswt35]

My experience with this kind of fix is its temporary at best. It certainly wont make it as good as new but will give it alittle more time before it craps out completely.

[@shawntannehill]

It needs to be cleaned more than it needs oil. I throw mine in the shower and hose it down motor and all. Let it dry then a little oil and your good to go. If you put a bunch of oil on it dirty it will just gum up faster.

[@kkall0602]

Big fan! Get it? Who's your favorite youtuber?

[@HermanHiebert]

Looks like your retract a bit was jamming on you. The one I had was the worst for jamming

[@jimbol8695]

So, the next Jack Houweling video will be a fan fix also? Oh, come on John, that was a joke just to make you laugh.

[@vintagesimplexfirealarmsof6440]

i like those D blades

[@sampsani]

how do you get that shit in there in the first place, i have a fans that are old as heck and i dont have a problem with gunk on the bearings/shaft

[@MrFilipT]

Nice

[@jsmits8]

Why not make a air filter of it?

[@R4MP4G3RXD]

I usually just use some WD40 for lubing motors :D

[@metal422life]

0:48 I think he was talking about himself mostly. Referring to his age in comparison with the fan. fan is not as old as his so, therefor it is not that old lol just finding random things on youtube and putting a input in

[@TedAlexander24]

Wish I had a dirty fan.

[@kortt]

"good as new", I bet it's better than new. The lube from the factory probably isn't much of a shake, lol