We have almost polished off the month of June and July is knocking at the door. Having spent the month with our oscillating fans on to keep us cool, now is a good time to pause and take a few minutes to give them a quick clean. They have worked hard and could use a little bit of attention. (Plus it will keep your fan and your lungs in better shape!) Here's how...
How To Clean Your Oscillating Round Fan:
The small amount of time will increase the life of your fan and help to keep the dust down in your space. It should be done a few times a year, more if you tend to have a dustier space.
Your fan will run with a reduction in noise and with less resistance, reducing your energy usage. Every little bit helps right?
Lower Photo by: sea turtle via Flickr.
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Comments (9)
and do it often. it makes the whole place look better. no matter how messy it is.
ummm...sorry to be a hater but that was a pretty uninformative 'How To'. Might as well have said, step 1, take it apart, step 2 clean it, step 3 put it back together.
A more useful article would have given us tips on how to get into all those nooks and crannies in the wire cage, how to get off that caked on dust on the blades, how to clean the place where dust accumulates on the motor. The article just stated the obvious.
kwak
It wasn't obvious to me.
i guess cleaning the wire cage & the other parts will be posted in "cleaning your oscillating fan part 2"
hehe
for the nooks & crannies, what about a can of compressed air (whatever it's called) that is used to clean keyboards?
quack quack i agree... thanks for detailing the obvious!
maybe you just dont use fans too often in Seattle? obviously that just means you're pretty cool already...
compressed air prob wouldn't work too well for a fan because it gets this "caked on" dust and since the fan is blowing all the time, the dust that is on the fan is usually pretty stubborn.
Haven't tried it but I thing a strong bristled brush would work the best on the wire cage. Use the nozzle of a good vacuum to suck off whatever dust you can from the motor. A good microfiber cloth (wet or dry) also works wonders on dust in general...doesn't just move it from place to place like a wet rag does.
I just take them outside and hose them down...not sure it it's good for longevity...theirs or mine, but I do wait till they're dry before plugging them in.
so i have a vintage sears fan at home and it recently started making an awful rattling noise that managed to scare my entire house.
is it necessary to oil an old fan? i haven't noticed any loose parts on it, it's just noisy now!
i don't know, grphcgurl, but from your description i wouldn't wanna be around when the shit hits your fan