repair: garrison pedestal fan

[Alex Eisenhut]

Hi
Don't know if repair stories are OK here, but I figured it can't hurt to post it.

Problem: Garrison 16" pedestal fan stops working. (model #043-5641-2)

Symptom: When power button is pressed, the numeral "1" lights up briefly and a forlorn beep is heard then it shuts down. Fuse is not blown.

Cause: There is a fairly large single-sided PCB in there. You need to replace the electrolytic caps labelled EC1-EC5.

It's simple to take apart but kind of unwieldy, remove the fan assembly to make it easier to work on the PCB.

Values
EC1 4.7uF 400V
EC2 10uF 25V
EC3 470uF 16V
EC4 220uF 16V
EC5 220uF 16V

I guess the caps are not very high quality, sometimes just flexing the PCB makes the fan work again. Replacing these caps solved the issue.
Protect the plastic base from solder blobs...

Problem: Fan is haunted, moves even when "off".

Cause: Bad solder joints. Really huge blobby cold joints, short to the base/gate of whatever is driving the oscillation motors.

Inspect board for any other questionable joints and redo.

Note that there is a brake on this fan, a touch sensor activates a reversing relay causing the motor to stop and grunt ... it's normal.

One less thing in the landfill, I guess. It's really a shame, it's otherwise OK as far as low-end consumer electronics go, why cheap out on the caps?? Oh well.

[SeanB]

Just remember as well to strip the fan housing and apply a drop of motor oil to the front and back bushing of the motor. This will help it run better. If you are feeling brave do the same with a thin screwdriver blade to the pivot and the pivot drive as well. While you are inside the covers clean the dust out as well.

[Alex Eisenhut]

Just remember as well to strip the fan housing and apply a drop of motor oil to the front and back bushing of the motor. This will help it run better. If you are feeling brave do the same with a thin screwdriver blade to the pivot and the pivot drive as well. While you are inside the covers clean the dust out as well.

The fan wasn't even old enough to get a good cake of dust on the blades! The lube was still fine.
As for the pivot drive, it's two of them and they seemed fine.
I have had no luck lubrifying fan bearings, no matter what I use it seems to cook itself into lacquer. Even the special "high temperature" bearing oil I purchased for my brushless motors.
I have a 20 year old 6 inch desk fan that I periodically take apart, clean out the shaft and bearings and put on bearing oil which lasts a few weeks.
IIRC, sleeve bearings use a special bronze alloy that's supposed to be lubrified for life, and adding oil doesn't really help except to reduce squeaking.

If I get a chance I'll try MoS2 or graphite powder next.