Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 11:50:03 EST
Reply-To: JKrevnov@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Rico Sapolich <JKrevnov@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: heater motor Lubrication
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
In a message dated 2/8/02 9:54:46 AM, dbeierl@attglobal.net writes:
<< felt-pad oil reservoir >>
David,
This topic is timely to me for three reasons: years ago, I had a motor course
taught by Prof. Brown; I just tried to rejuvenate a sleeve bearing, shaded
pole fan motor; and I replaced the blower motor in my van.
Above all else, Prof. Brown taught me Yankee thriftiness. He was the best
kind of teacher because he had retired to the university after paying his
dues in the real world. His career in industry was so long that as a green
engineer he had even worked on the design of traction motors for trolleys.
One day when he was talking about synchronous motors, he held up a clock with
a worn-out motor which had hung in his kitchen for 40 years. He complained
that he was unable to get a replacement motor for it and wondered why a
company as grand as GE would expect a person to scrap a perfectly good clock
for want of a $1 motor.
Out of respect for Prof. Brown, I once again tried to bring back to life a
shaded pole fan motor which had stopped doing its thing. It was frozen, so I
broke it apart, polished the shaft, cleaned everything real well and
lubricated the felts with 20 wt. After a couple of days, I found it stalled.
I went through the drill again, but this time I flushed the felts and the
bearings several times with everything I had on hand which said "degreaser"
on its label. After letting it drip dry, I lubed it and the results were the
same. What's a mother to do? I gave up and called Grainger.
I just replaced my van's blower motor with one that I had used in another van
for about 40 Kmi. When it came time to button up the housing, I thought of
oiling the motor, but then I remembered my recent experience and the
short-lived success I have had with lubricating Volvo blower motors, so I
just put it in place as-is. I feel that in fan motor which has seen its fair
share of grit, fresh oil might carry dirt into the sleeves especially if more
than a couple of drops is used.
Rich
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