Fan Starting Problem

[Spirrwell]

Basically, I've got this Wind Machine fan and it recently died when I went to go plugin in while at another place. When I had it on though it would sit and try to start as the blades were spinning very slowly. When I got back home a few days later I plugged in it and the blades slowly turned, but in about 10 seconds it started up working just fine again.

I like the fan, and I'm curious as to whether anybody has any insight on what the problem is. I say "is" because I assume the second I turn it off and unplug it, it's probably not going to work again. Any help?

 

[duke37]

Seems like sticky bearings to me.
Does the fan spin easily?

Dismantle, clean bearings, assemble and you will have the wind.

Fans need very little torque to start so the motors are not designed to have a high starting torque.

 

[Spirrwell]

Seems like sticky bearings to me.
Does the fan spin easily?

Dismantle, clean bearings, assemble and you will have the wind.

Fans need very little torque to start so the motors are not designed to have a high starting torque.

It does spin easily and I don't hear any excess noise when it spins. But surprisingly when I turned it off and back on, it started back up again. I suppose if the problem happens again I could open it up and clean it.

 

[duke37]

The lubricant may have gone gloopy and will be less viscous when warm.

 

[shrtrnd]

My experience with fans is dirt accumulation between the rotor and the stator, or just
a warping of the lamenations, that causes the rotor to drag on the lamenations of the stator.
It sounds to me like the second choice here. If that's the case, there's not much
you'll be able to do about it. Disassembly will reveal the cause.
I'm not discounting duke37's analysis, just adding other potential causes to look for.
Another annoying issue I've run into, is the cheap plastic housings they make nowadays,
that the fan motor metal housing parts are mounted in. When the metal parts get hot,
they can soften the plastic, warping that, and causing a mis-alignment of the motor
within it's plastic housing.
Good luck.