Oil the Fan Motor

I woke up this morning to the house at 67. I knew something was wrong so I hustled to the basement to see. The thermal switch on the motor was tripped. I reset the breaker and the motor started up. It was making some noise. I shut it down and put oil in both ports. The motor quieted down and has been running since. I knew the motor needed oil but I assumed the guy that refurbed it added the oil because he did such an exceptional job on everything. We all know what assume means. The label on the motor said DO NOT OVER OIL so I let it go when I installed it. I should have asked. A simple email would have been all that it took. My carelessness could've cost hundreds of dollars to fix but I got lucky and didn't fry a bearing.

I'm posting this just as a reminder for everyone to follow the manufacturer's maintenance recommendations. Skipping a simple maintenance procedure can cost dearly.

I've seen more stoker/oil burner motors and circulator pump motors burn out from over oiling than from not oiling. When we service a furnace we find alot of over oiled motors. One or two drops in the bearing oil cups is all you need for a year or two.

billw wrote:I woke up this morning to the house at 67. I knew something was wrong so I hustled to the basement to see. The thermal switch on the motor was tripped. I reset the breaker and the motor started up. It was making some noise. I shut it down and put oil in both ports. The motor quieted down and has been running since. I knew the motor needed oil but I assumed the guy that refurbed it added the oil because he did such an exceptional job on everything. We all know what assume means. The label on the motor said DO NOT OVER OIL so I let it go when I installed it. I should have asked. A simple email would have been all that it took. My carelessness could've cost hundreds of dollars to fix but I got lucky and didn't fry a bearing.

I'm posting this just as a reminder for everyone to follow the manufacturer's maintenance recommendations. Skipping a simple maintenance procedure can cost dearly.

The motor's on the refurb units are all new ones AO Smith or Marathon Dayton The motor's that come with the furnaces when they are picked up are taken off and scraped. Then The New in box Motor's are Put on The motor's come right from EFM which are oiled from the factory. The motor's should be oiled with 20 weight oil ever 6 months one or two drops is all that is needed. That is the Manufacturer suggestion .

Where exactly do you put the oil on the motor.

I am new to this motor oil thing! heh.

A picture would be most helpful! Do you have to take any cover plates on the motor off or are the "cups" in plain sight (for everyone except me of course!!

Thanks guys.

Mark,
You don't have to remove any covers. On the top, back of the motor there is a small hole, put some oil there. Also on the top front of the motor there is a thermal breaker, (little red button), to the right of it is the second oil hole. There should be an instruction sheet glued to the motor. Mine says add 30 drops per year if continuous duty, every two years if intermittent duty. I'm not sure if you have the same motor or not. Mine's an A.O. Smith. If you need pictures I can get a couple posted later tonight.

How hot does your motor run Bill?

Mine is always hot

John, mine's hot to the touch also but I think that is normal for electric motors. Converting electric energy to mechanical energy generates heat. I wonder if they can use oil less motors for this application? My hot tub motor is much bigger and is oil less. May have something to do with the close approximation to the heat source. Don't know for sure but it would be a nice upgrade.

Except for the electrical connections, a motor is very easy to change and can be purchased through Grainer for less than $100. It's a 4MA10 A.O. Smith motor. It comes with a dust cover and it MUST be used. The cover is located behind the fan, so you can't see it. Except for the electrical stuff, a motor change should take 10 minutes at most.

The motor on my stoker is a marathon.

No instruction sheet and maybe I am just blind but I can't tell where you'd put oil on it.

It is brand new of course. just not AO smith.

Does anyone have a marathon motor out there who can tell me where the oil might go on it?

I have never oiled it myself...

Thanks

The stoker motor is warranted for 1 year. If you think it's defective, contact your efm dealer and have it replaced under warranty, if you bought it from an efm dealer. Otherwise, contact Grainger.

Mark (PA) wrote:The motor on my stoker is a marathon.

No instruction sheet and maybe I am just blind but I can't tell where you'd put oil on it.

It is brand new of course. just not AO smith.

Does anyone have a marathon motor out there who can tell me where the oil might go on it?

I have never oiled it myself...

Thanks

There are two little rubber plugs one at 1:00 clock at the top where the motor meets the blower plate the other one is on the front cover at 1:00 clock pull them out and oil 10 drops is all you need Annually on the lable on the motor you will see what type oil to use 5W 30 or 10W some motor's say 20w

Thanks as always Jay!

Keeping warm in all this early cold weather we have been having!

billw wrote:I've seen more stoker/oil burner motors and circulator pump motors burn out from over oiling than from not oiling

Why does too much oil damage the motor? Does it get into places that it shouldn't?

Uhh, that was PADealer, not me. I was wondering the same thing.

I'm going to guess that it gets onto the rotor and thrown all over the place, or seeps outside of the packing, contaminating the contact points and generally gumming up the works.