responding to
http://www.homeownershub.com/mainten...or-705530-.htm
DA wrote:
TomR wrote:
A friend of mine was asked to repair a Harbor Breeze ceiling fan.
damaged capacitor:
http://i50.tinypic.com/kdk7l2.jpg
Don't waste your time trying to find a Harbor Breeze capacitor (or any
other replacement part for that matter). Harbor Breeze as well as its
cousin Hampton Bay (sold at HD) are just brands owned by marketing
companies that themselves appear to be nothing more than fronts for a
conglomerate of Chinese manufacturers. It's quite possible that both are
in the end manufactured in the same place, just the US fronts are
different. The whole setup is not geared towards repair of any kind, just
replacement of the entire unit if still under warranty or, they hope,
purchasing a new one if the warranty had expired.
1) Given the burnt and melted condition of the capacitor as shown in the
photos, is it possible (or likely) that the ceiling fan motor itself is
also bad?;
I think the motor is fine. The melting of the capacitor is suggestive of
over-current condition or a manufacturing defect which quite possibly was
there from the beginning. In either case, the motor's windings are capable
of withstanding higher currents and the motor's metal body parts are
capable of losing excess heat much better than a resin-encapsulated
capacitor. So, the capacitor is likely to go first.
2) What does the capacitor do; and do capacitors sometimes just burn and
melt like this one did without that being caused by something else such
as a bad motor?
There's always a reason but it may be a transient one and may be hard to
pinpoint, especially if it's the first occurrence which may end up being
the only one. It could have been something that was obstructing the blades
during a start at one time or perhaps some dust made its way into bearings
and made the start harder. Best course of action right now is to just
replace the capacitor (a $15 item) and see if the problem persist.
Look for 4.5/6/6 capacitor on the Net, there should be some on offer. A
quick search on Amazon yielded this:
http://www.amazon.com/BM-Ceiling-Fan...dp/B004QOY0I4/ which
is a 4.5/5/6 mkF, not an exact replacement but should work. Also, your
original one is 350V for the 4.5 mkF capacitor (there are three individual
capacitors in there) and that seems to be a bit hard to find. I think your
best bet would be to either stick with 250V for all three (it's a 120V
device anyway) or perhaps get three individual ones of proper value and
connect them as indicated on the original capacitor (grey is common for
all three and the rest are color coded).
Since you have the fan down and accessible, be sure to use the opportunity
to check and oil the bearings.
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