In article ,
(Doug McLaren) says...

I came back out the next day, sunny skies, and tried it again, this
time being close to the unit so I could see exactly what happened.
And it started up fine, no problems. Turning it off again, I saw that
the fan spun pretty freely -- it doesn't seem to have problems with
the bearings (as I've had in other appliances.)

Chances are a mouse looking for a warm spot shorted out some contacts.
After he fried for a while, the problem cleared. A lonely raccoon took
down a whole substation that way last winter. You should attack the
unit with a whisk broom and an air compressor before calling for
service.

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