⟐ Commented June 12, 2024 at 3:23 MST

I really like these fans, and I have several. One is not working well: the fan-blade assembly turns very slowly -- a single go-round takes about 3 seconds. I'm guessing that the motor needs to be oiled or to have some gunk cleaned out. Or maybe the problem is a bearing gone bad. Or...? Ideas? suggestions? instructions on how to fix this? I'm handy, but I've never done any repairs on small motors.

Too bad that Marvin Mfg went out of business.

⟐ Commented August 18, 2021 at 19:58 MST

⟐ Commented October 11, 2023 at 6:28 MST

⟐ Commented August 18, 2024 at 1:08 MST

⟐ Answered July 12, 2024 at 12:49 MST

⟐ Answered July 24, 2025 at 19:26 MST

⟐ Commented February 01, 2026 at 11:46 MST

⟐ Edited December 21, 2023 at 16:57 MST

⟐ Answered April 01, 2026 at 13:20 MST

⟐ Commented May 27, 2024 at 20:27 MST

can anyone help…

⟐ Answered May 20, 2020 at 5:25 MST

My standing fan stopped working and whenever I turn it on I hear either humming or a loud buzzing noise and the blades turn very slowly. The blades spin by hand easily enough when the fan is off, so I'm sure there are no problems with mechanical friction or obstructions. However, as soon as I turn the fan on the blades suddenly get a lot of resistance to them. I even tried to get the blades spinning at a moderate speed before turning the fan on, but when I do the blades stop quickly as if the motor acts like a magnetic brake.

Looking online, the most common diagnosis to this problem was a faulty motor capacitor so I took that out and replaced it yet the same issue persists. Another solution I found is to check the leads on any sort of starting clutches but it appears that this particular motor is a simple, single capacitor motor.

⟐ Answered September 01, 2025 at 7:34 MST

⟐ Answered April 22, 2017 at 14:36 MST

⟐ Commented October 18, 2022 at 5:14 MST

I am trying to repair a capacitor on a ceiling fan that is rather old. The capacitor is old enough to use the old unit label of mfd instead of uf for micro-farads.

Just in case the image is hard to read the text on the capacitor is:

Y C E

10MFD/5MFD/250VAC

GY/5R/5BR/5GR

I have found that there are a few people asking about this exact capacitor, but only in amazon questions and I don't want to trust those as technical advice.

From what I understand, the important thing is to get a capacitor with at least 250VAC, the same number of wires, and the same capacitance value. I have not been able to locate a single 10/5 uf capacitor regardless of the number of wires. What I have been able to find is a 5+5+5 uf capacitor with people saying it is a valid replacement.

I know that capacitors in parallel add their capacitance, so should I be able to buy a 5+5+5 and just attach two of the 5uf outputs to the 10mfd wire? Or do I need to actually track down a 10+5 uf capacitor?

EDIT: I have been doing a lot more research into this. I am now wondering if the 10mfd/5mfd is just a lie. making a few assumptions, GY could mean grey, R red, BR brown, and GR green. If that's the case, the grey are live, and the red, brown, and green are all 5 uf capacitors. This would explain why all of the more modern capacitors that come up in my searches are 5+5+5 uf and I cannot locate a single 10+5 uf.

⟐ Answered August 07, 2025 at 14:54 MST

⟐ Commented February 21, 2026 at 4:47 MST

Is there a way to take the device apart and fix the fan? If the fan even is the problem.

Thanks,

⟐ Commented October 27, 2025 at 4:24 MST

I have tried holding the motor shaft with a towel and with a rubber jar-lid remover so that I could try to screw off the blade cap, but it isn't moving no matter what I do!

Getting that off is all that is preventing assembly and I can't find any answers to this on the manufacturers page or find a customer service # to call.

Thanks!

⟐ Commented July 24, 2024 at 18:07 MST

⟐ Commented August 20, 2018 at 13:27 MST