Oiling/Disassembling a NuTone PFDR-52?

[dereklowe]

Our early 1990s NuTone has started squealing, and I'd like to see if I can simply oil it to bring it back to usefulness. I've removed the blades, but I'm thinking about the best way to access the motor bearings. I assume there's no good way to do this while it's still mounted up there to the down rod, but I'm not clear about which screws to start removing to bring the motor housing down. A picture of the housing is shown - any thoughts? Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to upload an attached picture, but it can be seen at this link:

drive.google.com/file/d/1kvVZMOhuL-Wl9tLLT6_m9jeISAdMsY7D/view?usp=sharing


Any help is much appreciated; I've never done this particular repair before.

[fantasticfans]

You can get the housing apart by unscrewing the 4 screws on the bottom of the motor housing that are connected to those acorn nuts on top. This will leave the top plate but that shouldn't get in the way. If it does, the whole fan may need to come down. One thing that is very important is that if your fan has the SelecTouch wall control, there is a circuit board inside of the housing that is rather fragile so if you do end up needing to take it apart, just watch for that, it shouldn't fall off or anything, just be careful not to bump it. However, I have seen people oil fans with these types of motors and they usually don’t even take the motor housing off. I do not think you can even access the bearings through the side of the motor so you shouldn’t need to take it apart. They usually shoot some WD40 up above the flywheel were it attaches to the motor. It can cause a spray so maybe oil it with something underneath the fan, then put a bag around the motor and let it run without the blades to get that initial spray off of it? One of the people who oils them like that is on this forum and I am sure will chime in and correct anything if I did not explain it 100% correctly.

[Obi-Wan Canopy]

Quick and dirty hack is to sit the motor upside down, and try to reach both the top and bottom bearings with the WD40 straw without actually taking it apart. There are a few videos on YouTube showing this.

If that doesnt work, you have to take it apart and replace the bearings, which are press fit.

[dereklowe]

Jun 16, 2023 10:14:27 GMT -5 fantasticfans said:

You can get the housing apart by unscrewing the 4 screws on the bottom of the motor housing that are connected to those acorn nuts on top. This will leave the top plate but that shouldn't get in the way. If it does, the whole fan may need to come down. One thing that is very important is that if your fan has the SelecTouch wall control, there is a circuit board inside of the housing that is rather fragile so if you do end up needing to take it apart, just watch for that, it shouldn't fall off or anything, just be careful not to bump it. However, I have seen people oil fans with these types of motors and they usually don’t even take the motor housing off. I do not think you can even access the bearings through the side of the motor so you shouldn’t need to take it apart. They usually shoot some WD40 up above the flywheel were it attaches to the motor. It can cause a spray so maybe oil it with something underneath the fan, then put a bag around the motor and let it run without the blades to get that initial spray off of it? One of the people who oils them like that is on this forum and I am sure will chime in and correct anything if I did not explain it 100% correctly.

I was under the impression that I shouldn't use WD40 on these fan motors, because it's not an actual lubricating oil?

[Obi-Wan Canopy]

Jun 20, 2023 7:33:18 GMT -5 dereklowe said:

Jun 16, 2023 10:14:27 GMT -5 fantasticfans said:

You can get the housing apart by unscrewing the 4 screws on the bottom of the motor housing that are connected to those acorn nuts on top. This will leave the top plate but that shouldn't get in the way. If it does, the whole fan may need to come down. One thing that is very important is that if your fan has the SelecTouch wall control, there is a circuit board inside of the housing that is rather fragile so if you do end up needing to take it apart, just watch for that, it shouldn't fall off or anything, just be careful not to bump it. However, I have seen people oil fans with these types of motors and they usually don’t even take the motor housing off. I do not think you can even access the bearings through the side of the motor so you shouldn’t need to take it apart. They usually shoot some WD40 up above the flywheel were it attaches to the motor. It can cause a spray so maybe oil it with something underneath the fan, then put a bag around the motor and let it run without the blades to get that initial spray off of it? One of the people who oils them like that is on this forum and I am sure will chime in and correct anything if I did not explain it 100% correctly.

I was under the impression that I shouldn't use WD40 on these fan motors, because it's not an actual lubricating oil?

Technically no.  But in my experience, it does a good job of loosening any dried up or hardened grease that is still in the sealed bearings, and gives it a few more years of life.  I've gotten better results this way than replacing the bearings, sometimes.  But it is a hack fix.