General Electric F11W Window Ventilator Fan | Clean, Service, and Run

[@LemontTheFanMan]

Good job bro you got it working well i like the Startup sound and wow it moves a crap load of air flow hopefully you can get rid of the noise soon and i like the homemade oil port in the back of the motor this fan moves more air then the 12" TPI lol i enjoyed the video

[@JordanU]

Thanks bro glad you enjoyed it.

[@carson01XJ]

I have the same fan in my collection, except it's electrically reversible. The noise you're getting may be from the shaft being loose in the rotor. Mine was so loose I was able to remove the shaft from the rotor, and that was causing a lot of noise which I thought was bearing noise. I used clear gorilla glue in the rotor and on the shaft, and now it's nice and quiet.

[@JordanU]

Thanks for letting me know.

[@Alco16-251F]

I Love the startup sounds!!!!!!

[@JordanU]

Thanks for letting me know.

[@Orange-Jumpsuit-Time]

Pretty sure those fans were made to operate in a horizontal position. As a child of the early sixties, circa 1962, my parents had one mounted overhead in the rectangular opening you would use to get into the attic. My father would install it every summer and use it to draw air from open windows, and push that air into the attic exhausting it out the attic vents opposite each end of the house. At that time, I never saw any houses in our suburban neighborhood with air conditioning, so I assume window air conditioners were a thing of the late sixties? So getting back to the fan, if that's the case, that motor was designed for horizontal mounting only (specialty motor), which means the shaft could have back and forth play in the vertical that is a non factor in the horizontal because gravity keeps the shaft extended in a downward position which eliminates play. Bottom line, that's not a window fan, the main clue was the oversize of the fan frame compared to a standard window opening.

[@JordanU]

I have the original documentation for some of these fans, they were intended for window mounted use. The way your father used it was not the intended method. Air conditioners were around in the 60s, but prices of the machines would not fall into a reachable range for the average consumer for another decade or two.

[@Orange-Jumpsuit-Time]

@@JordanU Maybe, it does say Window Ventilator on it, if that's the case my father was more clever than I gave him credit for, because I'll tell you what, running that all day during a summer day prevented heat buildup in the attic, which most air conditioners have to address as part of cooling a room area. Think about it, not only are you drawing fresh air into the house but you're also eliminating the heat radiation emanating from the ceiling. By the way, did you ever check how much play was in the axial direction of the shaft?

[@Orange-Jumpsuit-Time]

@@JordanU My father was a blue collar worker, worked at Spaulding for 35 years molding basketballs. We got our first air conditioner in 1973 when I was 15, and I believe some neighbors got their air conditioners between 1971-1972, so that would be the time period they hit the middle class market.

[@colin_5839]

WARNING: This is a compilation of a lot of the random thoughts I had while watching the video. :) Nice! I love how you are actually going to use this thing! I actually disagree, I don't think this thing was ever serviced before. I have seen a couple of these GE motors with the same kind of glue stuff on the back ( actually owned one) and not all of them had a decorative plate on the back either. plus, how would the previous owner have gotten it off without drilling a hole in the back? If there was a better way to do it, certainly more people would know about it. With a little more effort, you could have probably popped the back off. Oiling it the way you did works, but I generally think it is still a good idea to pull the whole thing apart because chances are that you didn't get oil to all of the wicks ( There are 4 or 5 if I remember correctly) and if you pull it completely apart you can clean up the rotor and bearing. Also what do you mean by the bearing is rooted? Just curious: have you measured the current draw on this fan now that you can spin it up to full speed? Also is it possible some of the rattling is due to the rubberized pieces that motor mounts to be old and dried out? Otherwise, I would agree that the vibrations are a bit weird, maybe see of thrust washers are a possibility. Very Nice job and very cool fan! I'm jealous!

[@JordanU]

WARNING: This is a compilation of carefully crafted sentences in reply to your random, though seemingly all related to the video, thoughts while watching the video: I disagree with myself now as well, I took a look at the other GEs I have and there were others that had a similar looking plate on the back, and those I have absolutely no reason to believe were ever serviced. I'm surprised the owner didn't get into this thing; if there was someone who would know how to, or could find a better way to, it would have been him. It is my understanding that there's just 1 large wick that sits in the back, but I too could be wrong as I haven't pulled it apart to see what's in there. The bearing is rooted in the sense that there's enough wear to the point where the shaft is significantly (relatively speaking) smaller than the bearing's inner surface, so there exists excessive play which permits the shaft to interact with the bearing in a manner it was never intended to. I've been told before that the buzzing sound is from the windings coming loose within the stator. A revarnish should resolve that issue, though I'm not sure varnishing the windings is worth while on a motor with a spoiled bearing. Unfortunately I think the motor ultimately needs to be replaced.

[@colin_5839]

@@JordanU huh, interesting. You know, this thing would probably run for another 30 years even with the bearing being worn lol. Very interesting!

[@JordanU]

@@colin_5839 It will run until the bearing gets so worn that the rotor collides with the stator, which will take quite a few years to happen. If I had somewhere that was not noise-sensitive, I'd probably just use it as is.

[@fanshvacandmore14]

Nice job! What a beast!

[@JordanU]

Thanks!

[@Krispy80]

i once had a fan with metal blades, the allen key was so tight that it broke the wrench i was using XD

[@JordanU]

Not good. The bolts can get pretty tight after 70 years.

[@fantime2061]

Vary cool fun Hope you get the noise to go away and when you had that bedroom door just about shut the small twin window fan must’ve been spreading pretty fast just all by itself because of the air get sucked back into the room

[@JordanU]

Thanks

[@thomasconnatser2478]

Can't say if the motor's been serviced, but the cord has definitely been changed, this one seems long, is the wrong color (should be gray to match the fan), and has the wrong plug on it. GE made their own cords with molded hard plastic plugs (which were known for breaking), this is a Snapit extension cord, with the end cut off. That bad wire nut connection in the switch box ks further proof, GE would've most likely used a crimp on butt connector on this splice.

[@JordanU]

Thanks for letting me know.

[@larryntanya]

Stumbled across this video I found this model fan GEF11W18 at a landfill one year. Ibrought it home it just hummed. So I cleaned it up oiled it and it worked. Iput this out in my addition window pulling air out of the house and open up 2 front windows and this fan pulls air like a beast and keeps house cool. Well last year a wire burnt in the motor at the windings. Windings inside also look a lil charred, any idea where I may find a replacement motor? Its summer for us in Maine and miss this fann dearly.. Thx

[@JordanU]

I've had ideas to attempt to retrofit an attic fan motor or something of the like into this because the bearings in this one are rooted. If I ever figure it out I will make another video.

[@sabbath7081]

The demise of these is when the actual armature comes loose from the motor shaft it is only held on by a spline on the shaft and red loctite and the armature part is just pounded over the four splines on the shaft, the armature is much softer than the shaft so after the loctite breaks it's almost impossible to reattach it again with perfect success.

[@JordanU]

I've heard of them failing in that way before. Not good.

[@khalilt6508]

It looks great!

[@JordanU]

Thanks!

[@thebombyall76]

I laughed out loud when you had to take the shroud off to get the blades off! of course.

[@JordanU]

These are such solid fans, it's really a shame they didn't make them to be more serviceable!

[@thebombyall76]

I've had a few of these apart. I think on the earlier ones that sealer looking stuff was original. On one I even found 2 seals one on top of the other.

[@JordanU]

I think you're right, the seal is original on this. I looked a few of the other GEs I have and another looked just like it. Considering the build quality I would have expected something a lot more 'finished' looking on the back. Out of sight out of mind I guess.

[@Alco16-251F]

27:12 That's the motor I want for my 1983 Evenflow Box Fan

[@JordanU]

OK

[@djbrucebanner9882]

i like it

[@JordanU]

OK

[@demetrijohnsonssirenvideos3590]

Yikes, the first sound that the motor made was cringe inducing! It’s bearing is definitely worn out a bit.

[@JordanU]

The bearings are rooted in this, unfortunately a lot of these fans ended up that way due to the severe lack of balance.

[@danhphamtrong8122]

L

[@NoelMarresAscot8]

Please take your spam on somebody else's video.

[@fanshvacandmore14]

Noel Marres-Ascot really, he or she should just not spam at all. Haha

[@JordanU]

I agree! Nobody wants to see spam in their comments box.

[@fanshvacandmore14]

Jordan U yep!