servicing brunnhilde's kitchen extractor fan

In this autumn I noticed the kitchen extractor fan in brunnhilde began to labor and make noise. I thought to myself the bearing must be dying due to lack of lubricant. I refrain from using it as much as I could to minimize damage hoping I can extend the life of the electric motor.


I would later found time to remove the extractor and investigate.

disassembly involves drilling out 4 aluminum pop-rivets

 as and be expected there is condensed grease all over - i was actually it is not much worst

 more rivets needed to be drilled out to remove the blower assembly

removed a few more rivets and the blower is out

carefully disassemble the housing halfs

 the impeller removed

 heat helps the grease removal

 testing the blower and it ran quietly so what gives?

after careful investigation it turned out the bearings (actually they are bushings) are not lack of lubricant; the noise was cause by the plastic housing pressing against the end of the motor shaft inducing friction on the poor motor.

to solve the problem i drill a hole at the plastic blower housing where it interferes with the motor shaft

It works like new after I re-installed it to the cabinet. To address the inevitable oil condensation I plan to add a small aluminum oil filter which will requires some searching for the right one. This is the only thing Westfalia should have done with the extractor fan.

one of my late season camping outs in Oregon