"Keith Nuttle" wrote in message
...
I realize this is not probably the best place to ask this question, but collectively
the people on this form have experience with every thing.

My question concerns our gas fire place. it is the kind that is vented through the
side of the house.

We used it all last winter. This fall when we started it up the fan ran for a
while made some noises, and the squirrel cage fan stopped. At that time I cleaned
the area under the firebox, there were were some lava stones.

I put it back together and it ran for a while then stopped. Messed with it and
tried again and it ran for a few minutes and slowed down and the fan started to hum

I took it out and put a little oil on the shaft and worked it down into the
bearings. It has been running for about an hour and a half.

Is it normal for a small motor like is on the fan to run hot? This one is running
about 200F. (taken with thermoprobe on a volt/ohm meeter with the probe on the out
side of bearing housing over the bearing.)

Thanks

A bearing temp of 200F indicates a dragging bearing. If the motor
has bushings and not bearings there will usually be a felt pad
surrounding the bushing. Take the motor apart and clean the inside
of the bushing with a q-tip soaked in 3-in-1 oil (the 20W kind is too
heavy) then liberally apply the oil to the felt pad and soak it. Let it sit for
several minutes then wipe up any excess oil. Clean the gunk off the
armature shaft and reassemble. Add a drop of oil to the shaft/bearing
interface. I do this to my fans once a year and they are all still running
after 10+ years.

Never use WD40 to clean or lube as it will gum up in a few days/weeks
and is difficult to get it all out of the felt.

If the motor has actual bearings they may need replacement.

Measure the temps at other places in the motor. If the field windings
or iron are excessivly hot you may have a shorted winding. You may
also just have insufficient airflow over them on your bench. Compare
it to the airflow when installed in the fireplace.
Art