On Tue, 29 Aug 2006 18:14:54 GMT, "Noozer" wrote:

:-) For the record, I have lots of fans, including the new one they
bought me at work. None are small enough to fit on the window sill.
(a cheap modern one that has no overhang.) I could put a fan on the
table next to me, but that wouldn't blow the cool outside air in after
sundown and all night.

Then buy a fan that fits INTO the window opening.

I'm sure they don't sell them. I haven't hunted, but I notice what is
sold and what people have, and they don't sell anything like this.

This is the perfect sized fan. I think after it was oiled again, it
only overheated because the blade wasn't spinning fast enough to blow
air through the vents. I"m so glad it works again. Plus I did like
fixing it.

One day that fan WILL catch fire. An electric motor that is powered and not
spinning is pretty much a short circuit.

That's nonsense. It's a resistor, not a short! I think it loses
some backwards inductive impedance when the motor isn't spinning, but
it's no short or the circuit breaker would trip or the wires would
melt. It doesn't even burn the insulation or it wouldn't work fine
after it is reoiled.

This has run without spinning on several occasions for a total of
several, maybe 10 hours without spinning, at least 2 hours at a time,
and it's gotten as hot as it will get.

I've used this fan for 15 years or more (though only in the summer and
the hot part of fall). I only *thought*the wires had burned up more
than before because the blade was spinning more slowly than usual
after oiling. That was because the glue failed and the blade was
loose on the shaft. It may have been a coincidence that the epoxee
failed when it did, or maybe it was because the motor had gotten hot
(although I don't think much heat could have been conveyed to the
blade through the shaft, or radiation.)