rebeccmeister | Wherein Scrottie Saves the Day

After yesterday's head-scratching, I had a conversation with

scrottie this morning about how fan motors work. He took a class on small engine repair sometime back in high school, and so I often happily defer to him on such problems, when they arise. After all, my general default is to just use non-motorized alternatives.

He pointed out that there really aren't a lot of moving parts that can wear out on these little shaded pole motors, so chances are pretty good that the thing is squeaking because something's wearing out a bit, and the whole thing can be resolved simply with the aid of a little 3-in-1 oil.

He was right. Also, I love it whenever I can find a video of a dude-bro explaining how to do a repair (thanks, dude-bro!).

When I dug around in the fan that had been squeaking (the one I photographed yesterday was actually working fine), I found a few remnants of small, broken threads wrapped around the shaft (I didn't actually take the motor apart because the fan blades are pressed on there pretty well). I think the threads are bits of nylon, from the nylon that had been used for box covers. That would explain why I never had any problems in Texas - I didn't make nylon mesh lids for my cricket boxes there.

I might still get a spare fan motor or two, just in case.