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Oil/plastic smell from fan, want to clean/oil motor
Over the years, the fans I buy are getting worse and worse smelling. Some will smell like machine oil, others will smell heavily like plastic, and some will smell like diesel (of course it's not diesel, but that's the closest thing I can compare it to). These smells do not fade with the months or years. I'm quite sensitive to these fumes, and end up coughing like crazy for hours after. The phenomena of increasingly smelly products seems to be well known, judging from what I've found on the web. It doesn't matter how high end you try to buy, the smell doesn't seem to be correlated. Even mostly metal fans are afflicted with this problem.
The fan that I found to be the least obnoxious in the past was Sunbeam SSF1600RC oscillating stand fan: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001R1XJ9A
http://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-SSF1600RC-U-16-Inch-3-Speed-Oscillating/dp/B001R1XJ9A
However, the more recent ones I've bought exude the oil/plastic smell, especially when the ambient temperature is hot and/or it has been running for an hour or so. No worse than other fans. But it gets me worried. Either join the ranks of large quantity electricity users and get A/C (and banish fresh air from my apartment forever), swelter in unimaginable heat, or breath the fumes and eventually die. As I do not know what is causing the smell, I am not sure whether I can do anything about it. If it is hot plastic, likely not. If it's bad oil, maybe I can oil the motor and hope that the good quality oil I use will displace the bad original oil. I know, it's more likely they will mix and stay there forever, but I'm really out of options.
I haven't given it a look-see and try. I've been trying to find instructions, pictures, or videos on the web showing how to get at the inside. Would anyone know of such material? I have no fear that I will void the warranty (which I certainly will) -- when you can't breathe, a warranty becomes unimportant. As far as maiming myself in the process, there is nothing in the instruction booklet warning about dangers of self servicing (most other products these days say that there are no consumer-servicable parts, but this one doesn't say that).
Apart from how to take it apart, can any respiratorily challenged person recommend a fan that does *not* have such a smell? It seems impossible to find these days as they all come from the same place.
The fan that I found to be the least obnoxious in the past was Sunbeam SSF1600RC oscillating stand fan: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001R1XJ9A
http://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-SSF1600RC-U-16-Inch-3-Speed-Oscillating/dp/B001R1XJ9A
However, the more recent ones I've bought exude the oil/plastic smell, especially when the ambient temperature is hot and/or it has been running for an hour or so. No worse than other fans. But it gets me worried. Either join the ranks of large quantity electricity users and get A/C (and banish fresh air from my apartment forever), swelter in unimaginable heat, or breath the fumes and eventually die. As I do not know what is causing the smell, I am not sure whether I can do anything about it. If it is hot plastic, likely not. If it's bad oil, maybe I can oil the motor and hope that the good quality oil I use will displace the bad original oil. I know, it's more likely they will mix and stay there forever, but I'm really out of options.
I haven't given it a look-see and try. I've been trying to find instructions, pictures, or videos on the web showing how to get at the inside. Would anyone know of such material? I have no fear that I will void the warranty (which I certainly will) -- when you can't breathe, a warranty becomes unimportant. As far as maiming myself in the process, there is nothing in the instruction booklet warning about dangers of self servicing (most other products these days say that there are no consumer-servicable parts, but this one doesn't say that).
Apart from how to take it apart, can any respiratorily challenged person recommend a fan that does *not* have such a smell? It seems impossible to find these days as they all come from the same place.
This summer, I've used my least problematic fans without setting them to oscillate. I notice that this is strongly correlated with the absence of the oil smells.
1 Comments
The newer fans have indeed more bad smells. I have got a brand new fan here that smells like real poo poo!
It is very likely the oil for the fan. It is called bearing lubricants.
I already have taken off the oscillation gear because that made noise, thrown away some gearwheels so the oscillation doesn't work anymore it is quiet now. In the oscillation gear there was a lot of grease and that stinks very hard and have cleaned that. So the back of the fan is cleared of grease. I am planning on re-greasing the rest of the fan and likely the bearings of the fan as much as possible.
http://www.nmbtc.com/bearings/white-papers/bearing-importance-of-lubrication/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np5dcns64Fs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=simldPb88UU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lprVCEN4Rc
Breathiness I wonder did you made some progress in your investigations in the last years?
What companies have the least smelling fans?
It is very likely the oil for the fan. It is called bearing lubricants.
I already have taken off the oscillation gear because that made noise, thrown away some gearwheels so the oscillation doesn't work anymore it is quiet now. In the oscillation gear there was a lot of grease and that stinks very hard and have cleaned that. So the back of the fan is cleared of grease. I am planning on re-greasing the rest of the fan and likely the bearings of the fan as much as possible.
http://www.nmbtc.com/bearings/white-papers/bearing-importance-of-lubrication/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np5dcns64Fs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=simldPb88UU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lprVCEN4Rc
Breathiness I wonder did you made some progress in your investigations in the last years?
What companies have the least smelling fans?
It occurred to me that the problem may be the lubricant for the gears that cause the fan to oscillate. The lubricant for the fan motor itself is suppose to be sealed in in most modern household fans. It might be worth figuring out how to disassemble the whole thing in order to clean the gears. Got some suggestions on how to take apart the housing (requires damaging it, but not in any consequential way). Also looking for local service places.
Hi, Jerry,
You're right, many other people won't be bothered by whatever is being injected into the air. However, a significant portion of the population would be, and I don't think I'm in the extreme. It could be just the echo chamber effect of online information, but Googling shows that there is a growing awareness of products made from afar using chemical-emitting plastics. The awareness seems to be increasing in part because the problem is getting more pronounced with the years, and the outgassing of new products in recent years seems to be persistent rather than only when new. There is no monitoring and regulation of import products for this problem.
For the specific fan that I wrote about, I am not sure how much of that is due to plastic warming up versus lubricant warming up. Maybe both. I haven't read much about lubricant oil in motorized import products being a problem, but it's not hard to see that a producer that pays no attention to outgassing plastics would pay no attention to the suitability of the oil being used for lubricant.
I do not find this problem with older fans of the same model as the one I originally posted about. I still have that older fan. In fact, I use it as a window fan, and I oscillate it across the bed/desk/chair (wherever I am) without problems. So I know that the outside air is not the problem (it's not great, but it's not the problem). The only caveat to that (and it's a biggy) is that *all* new fans these days fail in terms of air quality. That means that they fumigate the air to a degree as to be noticable above the air from outside. I live by a busy road, so exceeding the pollution of the outside air says quite a lot about the level of fumigation that is taking place.
Breathing filters that protect against fumes would definitely be more elaborate than dust masks. Likely those dual canister filters that make people sound like Darth Vader. I suspect that I need to solve the problem at the source i.e., the fan.
Some people have suggested taking the fan apart for a cleaning and relubrication. Probably better to get a mechanically inclined person to do this, though it would be interesting to do it myself (at lesser chance of doing it well). It's more a matter of available time right now.
Another suggestion was to buy old fans. I will look into that.
Thanks again for your thought, Jerry. I'm new & anonymous here, but I just looked at your profile. I wish you the best.
You're right, many other people won't be bothered by whatever is being injected into the air. However, a significant portion of the population would be, and I don't think I'm in the extreme. It could be just the echo chamber effect of online information, but Googling shows that there is a growing awareness of products made from afar using chemical-emitting plastics. The awareness seems to be increasing in part because the problem is getting more pronounced with the years, and the outgassing of new products in recent years seems to be persistent rather than only when new. There is no monitoring and regulation of import products for this problem.
For the specific fan that I wrote about, I am not sure how much of that is due to plastic warming up versus lubricant warming up. Maybe both. I haven't read much about lubricant oil in motorized import products being a problem, but it's not hard to see that a producer that pays no attention to outgassing plastics would pay no attention to the suitability of the oil being used for lubricant.
I do not find this problem with older fans of the same model as the one I originally posted about. I still have that older fan. In fact, I use it as a window fan, and I oscillate it across the bed/desk/chair (wherever I am) without problems. So I know that the outside air is not the problem (it's not great, but it's not the problem). The only caveat to that (and it's a biggy) is that *all* new fans these days fail in terms of air quality. That means that they fumigate the air to a degree as to be noticable above the air from outside. I live by a busy road, so exceeding the pollution of the outside air says quite a lot about the level of fumigation that is taking place.
Breathing filters that protect against fumes would definitely be more elaborate than dust masks. Likely those dual canister filters that make people sound like Darth Vader. I suspect that I need to solve the problem at the source i.e., the fan.
Some people have suggested taking the fan apart for a cleaning and relubrication. Probably better to get a mechanically inclined person to do this, though it would be interesting to do it myself (at lesser chance of doing it well). It's more a matter of available time right now.
Another suggestion was to buy old fans. I will look into that.
Thanks again for your thought, Jerry. I'm new & anonymous here, but I just looked at your profile. I wish you the best.
Well we do have central air conditioning but we still use low velocity fans, overhead large paddle and simple and cheap traditional stationary fans sitting on the floor or on a dresser.
My wife is sensitive to smells, but never has any of the problems you mention. For me it would have to smell bad enough to peel paint off the walls from me to notice ; )
My point is you have either very bad luck with fans, doubt that as you seem to have experience with many different fans, or you have the sensitively of a blood hound - no insult intended.
So, will a window fan blowing out with a window/screen open across the room help? I assume the night time outside air is cooler. Then too with your sensitivity does the smell of cars etc outside trouble you too, I'd think so.
Is there some kind of breathing masks you can wear to filter the air?
Just some thinking, no answers, wish the best and look forward to cooler weather in about 2 months.
My wife is sensitive to smells, but never has any of the problems you mention. For me it would have to smell bad enough to peel paint off the walls from me to notice ; )
My point is you have either very bad luck with fans, doubt that as you seem to have experience with many different fans, or you have the sensitively of a blood hound - no insult intended.
So, will a window fan blowing out with a window/screen open across the room help? I assume the night time outside air is cooler. Then too with your sensitivity does the smell of cars etc outside trouble you too, I'd think so.
Is there some kind of breathing masks you can wear to filter the air?
Just some thinking, no answers, wish the best and look forward to cooler weather in about 2 months.
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