Hi William,

William R. Walsh wrote:
If the fan still runs, there is a good chance you can fix it. It will
be vibrating for one reason:

1. It's loose.
2. A blade is broken.
3. The bearings are cheap, dry or both.

1 and 3 are the easiest ones to fix. You can tighten the fan or oil
the bearings.

Reason 2 will require some fabrication or reattachment of the broken
blade, as well as a solution to whatever made it break. It will also
involve rebalancing the fan if you find that it runs noisily after
repair, and to prevent excessive wear on the bearings.

Most of the motors are fairly simple AC powered shaded pole units. A
truly dead microwave oven could provide a replacement if one is
required. As long as the operating voltage is correct, and you can
figure out a way to mount the new motor, there should be no problem.

William

Thanks for the comprehensive information. We're now just having another
problem first: the fan is hardly accessible, he said he would have to
disassemble the *whole* oven to access it, not very service-friendly. I
don't know then whether he will actually do it or live with the problem
until he can afford a new one. I keep trying to convince my friend.

Thanks alot,

Adrian