Ceiling Fan Intermittant

[edwardh1]

I have a 21 yr old Casablanca big brass body ceiling fan (yes it is old I know maybe i should junk it.

It is intermittant. it stopped 5 years ago, I took the wiring apart at the base then it ran for another 5 years. I have it down now and it will occasionally run-for no apparent reason- input wires have power, i have wiggled all the connectors.

Casablanca wants $110 to fix it (they will be just fixing whts wrong- rest of it will be 21 years old still- plus freight $40?- its heavy - maybe i should junk it- when it runs its fine. It has a small circuit board, one capacitor, a few resistors, no ICs or transistors

Should I try to look at the motor/ are there brushes in these motors? or other connections? Or do they get internal shorts and do this intermittant trick? Motor seems to have 3 feed wires a balck and two other colors

Any ideas?

[dkpd1581]

Check the capacitor make sure its within 10% of the listed value.  Check to verify that there are no shorts to ground (especially high ohm shorts that can bleed voltage but not trip a breaker).  Is there any other device in the circuit which is bleeding off voltage when the fan is trying to run.  How reliable is the breaker in the panel that serves the fan circuit.

The combination of either one of those problems may cause the internal thermal overload to trip.  Overload switches can, in and of themselves, begin to fail and cause intermittent service.  Make sure that the wire nut connections are tight and look to your wall switch - if there is one in the circuit - and see if it is going bad.

Depending on the type of motor used you can check to see if the winding resistances all add up when the motor has been off for a period of time and is sure to be cooled down (Run to Common ohm value + Start to Common ohm value = Run to Start ohm value) withing 1 or 2 10ths of an ohm. 

It is also possible that the permanently seal bearing is going bad and causing heating of the windings and that in turn is triping the internal overload.

As to the cost of repair/shipping vs a new fan....that depends on the sentimental value you are willing to invest in the old fan.

[Northern-Tech]

 Some things to eliminate....( 1 ) to check the wall switch, is there a light on the fan that comes on ? If so, then you are getting power up to the fixture. So if the light works, but not the fan, problem is most lilkely internal. This of course, also verifies the breaker is allowing power through. ( 2  ) Are there different speed settings, changed by a small pull chain ? If so, possibly this may be starting to go. Try another speed, and see if this eliminates the problem. ( 3 ) As far as I know, they have no brushes in the motors, at least not in any that I have seen. ( 4 ) Verify all wire connectors by........holding the wire connector and pulling on each lead in that connector. Sometimes things look to be fine, but one wire will pull out easily. ( 5 ) When the fan will not go, give it a little push, and see if it starts up.............possibly the bearings . bushings may be starting to go ??   I dont know what the cost of a new fan would be.......but $110 should get you a pretty nice fan, with a warranty to boot. What warranty are they giving on the fan repair ? Is it a complete overhaul, and warranty, or a one part warranty ? If only the replaced item is warrantied, I would say file it..........under G.......for GARBAGE.               Good Luck !!

[edwardh1]

Thanks-

we wanted to repair it.

new casablancas cost 200 -800

I took it to a casablanca recommended repair person who worked from his home and he replaced all the electronics and converted it to a simple 3 speed vice the variable speed. I like simple.