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One of our pedestal fans stopped working. When turned on, the motor still hummed but the blades did not turn.
Happily, I was able to fix the fan simply by lubricating the center shaft with mineral oil. After removing the fan blades, I dabbed some oil around the area where the metal shaft sticks out from the motor. I also removed the plastic casing over the motor, and dabbed some oil on the inner part of the shaft. It's possible that simply doing the outer part may have sufficed, but I didn't test that.
I prefer using mineral oil for lubricating things rather than WD-40, as mineral oil is odorless. One can pour a bit of oil into a small container like a bottle-cap (not the cap of the mineral oil bottle itself - one wants to avoid contaminating the bottle). Then one can take a q-tip, dip it into the oil, then dab it onto whatever is being oiled. One must be careful not to let the cotton tip unravel and get stuck on the item; if that happens, one should pull the cotton out using tweezers if necessary.
This works well for squeaky door-hinges too.
Sometimes oscillating fans make squeaky noises as they oscillate. That may be ameliorated by determining which moving parts are squeaking, and dabbing some oil and/or petroleum jelly in between those parts.
On a related note, one time one of our ceiling fans wasn't turning. In that case, the motor could still be felt humming too. But what had happened was that we had accidentally moved the direction switch halfway between the forward and reverse settings!
Happily, I was able to fix the fan simply by lubricating the center shaft with mineral oil. After removing the fan blades, I dabbed some oil around the area where the metal shaft sticks out from the motor. I also removed the plastic casing over the motor, and dabbed some oil on the inner part of the shaft. It's possible that simply doing the outer part may have sufficed, but I didn't test that.
I prefer using mineral oil for lubricating things rather than WD-40, as mineral oil is odorless. One can pour a bit of oil into a small container like a bottle-cap (not the cap of the mineral oil bottle itself - one wants to avoid contaminating the bottle). Then one can take a q-tip, dip it into the oil, then dab it onto whatever is being oiled. One must be careful not to let the cotton tip unravel and get stuck on the item; if that happens, one should pull the cotton out using tweezers if necessary.
This works well for squeaky door-hinges too.
Sometimes oscillating fans make squeaky noises as they oscillate. That may be ameliorated by determining which moving parts are squeaking, and dabbing some oil and/or petroleum jelly in between those parts.
On a related note, one time one of our ceiling fans wasn't turning. In that case, the motor could still be felt humming too. But what had happened was that we had accidentally moved the direction switch halfway between the forward and reverse settings!