how to clean and oil an exhaust fan and more

The squeaky wheel gets oiled, have you heard that old adage? It just so happens that I have a lot of squeaky wheels, some have been more pesky than others. Because I was a pre-k teacher for 19 years, I can pretty much tune out annoying instances of all kinds. I have been trying to tune out one annoying instance for more than a year. I’m actually embarrassed to tell you how long it’s really been.

Who/what is the offender? I’m also feeling uneasy about showing you these “before” pictures. Meet my bathroom exhaust fan. We are not on friendly terms, and I’ve been trying to ignore him for months (isn’t it obvious?) I’m fortunate enough to have a skylight in my bathroom, and many times I would leave the light off just so I wouldn’t have to listen to the insidious hum of this guy.

I disconnected the power source so I could begin cleaning it, thinking that with a good cleaning maybe it would be more quiet.

Removing the fan was quite easy, involving just one screw. You can see it in the first picture (above).

I often clean my regular fans with my leaf blower, so I used that technique on cleaning this bathroom exhaust fan.

After blowing as much of the dust off I could, I then switched my my shop dust brush.

Amazing what some dusting and soap and water will do, right?

Now this is where I got a little discouraged. I reinstalled the fan and cleaning it did NOT make the noise go away.  I asked a neighbor about the motor and whether or not I could oil it and he said yes, but NOT where I was going to oil it. Please consult someone who knows about these things, or at the very least your manual before attempting any repairs.

My neighbor had said to put the 3-IN-ONE oil here, inside this housing—only one problem, the nozzle of the standard 3-IN-ONE® Multi-Purpose Oil bottle, wouldn’t fit through the slats.

This bottle of 3-IN-ONE® Multi-Purpose Oil, has a 6” telescoping marksman spout! After twisting off the cap, and pulling out the telescoping spout, I was able to get my hand inside the fan housing and guide the nozzle to the exact place where I needed to put the drops of oil.

After putting a few drops on the spinny gear thingy, I used my fingers to rub oil all around the area.

Remembering what my neighbor had said, I set the motor upright to allow the oil to work it’s way down inside the spinny thing.  (the neighbor told me all the technical terms, because he use to build motors like these, but I can’t remember the parts)

I had really given up hope on this fan ever being quiet again.

In addition to using the 3-IN-ONE Oil with the telescoping spout on my noisy bathroom exhaust fan, I also used it on some tools.

These post hole diggers have been neglected. I was going to try to remove the rust, but they really needed to be sharpened first. I asked my neighbor Rodney if he could take care of these for me.

Rodney takes great pride in keeping his tools in good working order, and did such a great job sharpening these post hole diggers.

But, look how nice they look after I oiled them with 3-IN-ONE® Multi-Purpose Oil.

Up until last year, I never knew that I should oil stuff, I mean tools.  While Rodney was helping me install the DIY picket fence, we used my nail guns a lot. Rodney brought over some oil a couple of times to make them run smoother.  Who KNEW?

Last, but not least are my dollies.

I use these furniture dollies all the time to move my large pieces. I have small dollies, and large dollies. There really isn’t anything I can’t move WHEN the dollies roll. But like anything, I guess they need a little maintenance as well.

This is a new dollie, but it doesn’t want to roll right. When I’m moving heavy furniture, I NEED these wheels to spin AND roll.

I didn’t need the telescopic marksman spout extended fully, but I like how flexible it is—not rigid like a typical spout.

It’s very important that my rolling tool cart moves freely, so all the wheels got a nice dose of3-IN-ONE® Multi-Purpose Oil.

So, my question to you is this—do you maintain your tools properly? I haven’t, but I will be doing a much better job of maintenance going forward.

Keep up with 3-IN-ONE® on Facebook, and for more helpful tips and some professional videos visit HandyU.

gail

Disclosure: I was provided product and compensation to share my thoughts with you. As always, all thoughts, opinions, and projects are my own.