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Electric motor question

D

D Slater

Well-known Member
GE motor on a furnace fan, 26 years old. Bushings lost lube and it was almost to the point of not turning. Being the weekend I disassembled it and shined the bushings and shaft up lubed it and got it going until I get a replacement.
Question is on the best lube for the bushings. Bushings have a hole and a wick at the hole to shaft with a cavity around the wick. Green locking powder was in the cavity. Would that be dried out lube, something to have lube soaked in or other? Thanks
Untitled URL Link
 
D Slater,

At work, small electrical pumps have a wick in them as well. We use a light oil, kind of like a sewing machine oil.

I tried your attached link, it did not work for me.

D.
 
Usually thee is a data plate secured to the motor. The plate will say "lubricate annually with SAE 20 wt. oil.

I do not usually recommend "3 in 1" oil because of the pariffin in the oil, unless the can says "for electric motors".

I use turbin oil in mine. I usually lubricate the motors in my furnace 2 times a year.

HTH John,PA
 
That green stuff may just be some oxidized bronze dust. If there isn't too much slop between the shaft and sleeves, I would clean everything out and saturate the wicks with 10 weight non-detergent oil. Good luck.
 
I not so sure I wouldn't use a needle greaser and use a summer weight grease. Especially where the bushing is about wore out.
 
If the bushings and shaft weren't worn, cleaning them up a saturating the wick with light oil might work better than you expect.

We have several of the old oilable bushing type motors on the furnaces at the church, original motors put in in 1958. Every so often one will start to squeal, I just hit it with some oil and good to go. Those old motors were built way better than the new Chinese ones, hate to see one go.
 
What you need to look for are scratches on the rotor. Scratches on one end of rotor would indicate you have a bad bushing. I've polished shaft on lathe using 400 then 600 grit wet and dry. Puts a mirror like finish on shaft.

Never use wd40. I like to use either full synthetic motor oil or refrigerant oil. Some hardware stores sell a oil for motors. Comes in a small plastic bottle with a plastic straw to get oil in motor's oil ports.

When motor is apart, I hold finger over one end of bushing and fill bushing and wick like material full of oil and let it soak in for a minute or so.

Make sue all the rust if off shaft before taking motor apart or you can damage bushing. If there isn't an oil port to all oil, I drill a small hole so plastic bottle with straw can add oil without taking motor apart. Oil it once a year.

The key to keeping dirt out of bushing is use a rubber washer the size of shaft. Push it close to motor. Washer will act like a slinger to keep dirt out. Don't know why some double shafted window AC motors only have washer on one shaft. The shaft without washer is the one that locks up because of dirt.
 
An old timer heating guy told me non-detergent motor oil. The old oil will not pick dirt that wears out the bushings,he said.
 
Depending on motor manufacturer, there is likely cotton packing on the other end of that wick. If you can disassemble, and pull a stamped metal cap off you should see the dried out packing and re-oil. I would use a 20 Wt non detergent oil if you can obtain it. If you are not experiencing any issues now, it will likely run for several more years before you need to replace, and you may have a better motor than you can buy (think china and mexico made motors now). The reason I say this?......I work for one of the largest motor manufacturers, and most of the HVAC motors now are made in Mexico, and many 'cost saving' measures since your motor was made.
 
Already had it back together before I asked what lube would be best. Did pull the covers on the lube cavity and oiled the wicks with 20 non detergent. Don't know if the cavity had felt or what. One end was just a felty dry dust powder that scattered all over the place. Other end the material stayed in and I soaked it with the oil. Bushings and shaft still have no noticeable play. In fact the clearance was to tight before I polished the bushing and shaft. Just wondered about putting something back in the cavity and what lube to use if I remove to lube again.
Thanks for all replies.
 
It is likely the dusty material was dried packing that used to contain the lube if I am understanding correctly. In the case of the motors that were mfg in the plant I previously worked at, that material was called "permawick", and was basically a cotton material soaked with oil. The felt wick that contacted the bearing basically did as the name implied, and wicked the old from that cotton material down to the bearing. Works very good until which time the "well runs dry" which was the case in your motor. I am attaching a link to the product. If you can come up with a material that would mimick that process, and soak with oil, I would say you would be good for a good long while. Or, oil your motor about once a year? Hope this helps.
permawick used in motor mfg
 
P.S. You are likely looking at $150-$200 for a replacement motor today. I have not looked at pricing for a while, but while the quality (my opinion) has gone down, prices have gone way up. The plant I used to work at closed and those motors (HVAC motors in fractional hp blowers used in residential furnaces and a/c) are now made primarily in Mexico. As I said, if you can solve the oiling issue, the motor you have may run for years. (If the shaft/bearing was not scored)
 
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