Noisy Ceiling Fan

My mom's house has a sunroom with glass on three sides, so it gets really hot in summer and she's hardly ever used the room in the 18 years she's lived there. There's a ceiling fan in the room that my sister turned on yesterday and she reports it made a lot of noise so she turned it off.

Can a fan motor bake so much in a hot room that it would get damaged? Is there some kind of lubrication I should do, or maybe let it run for a while and see if the noise goes away?

Id rather not replace it if I don't have to; I won't be down there myself until Friday, so can't report more details until then.

Thanks,
Beth

 

If there is a light kit, first thing is to remove it (the globe I mean, or the bulbs). I've fixed more fans that seemed noisy by just wrapping a rubber band around the globe/shades where the screws contact, than I could count.

If no kit, check that the blades are tight and the fan doesn't wobble at all.

To answer your basic question, yes, if it's a cheap fan being out in a non-conditioned area can expose it to conditions it wasn't designed for and could cause motor problems. Dried out bearings are about the first thing I would suspect. It might be possible to disassemble it enough to put a drop of 3-n-1 oil on the shaft and let it run to the bearings, but I've never tried.

If it needs replacement, make sure you get one for indoor/outdoor use.

 

What type of sound was the fan making? Was it a motor humming (bad bearings or motor is dying)? Was it a scraping sound (fan or motor scraping on the housing)? Or, was it a rattling (loose light bulbs or globe)? What type of sound will help determine what the problem is.

 

Does the sun room have windows? If not a ceiling fan isn't going to help. If the sun room does have windows a box fan in one of the windows might be better but probably only AC would help much. I know not a direct answer to your question but you need to consider should you even bother fixing the fan.

 

Thanks for all the fast responses. When I go down Thursday I'll check for myself and report more info after trying the suggestions.

Ray, the room doesn't have windows, it has 6 sliding glass doors (2 on each wall). So the fan would be helpful when the doors are open. There also are some A/C vents, but they are not adequate for the space since there's nothing but venetian blinds covering the doors (i.e., no curtains to keep the heat out). I can try to change the latter.

Thanks again!