My Problem
I have three of these bathroom fans. It appears they last about 10 years then fail. I simply replaced the first one that failed because I figured it was not repairable. However, I took it apart to see if I could fix it.
My Fix
The repair was easy assuming you have a soldering iron and a replacement capacitor. The original capacitor, the large round item with the silver top and the black sides, had dried out. I replaced it with the green one you can see. The cost of the capacitor was only a few cents. It worked perfectly after replacing the capacitor.
The area around the diodes looks like it got hot but I didn't replace them. The other unit I repaired seems to be working fine. I have one more of these and I expect it will fail one of these days as well.
Note: I used the triangular shaped bit from my iFixit tool kit to take the unit apart.
This is a classic example of using a cheap part that fails over time.
I am happy I was able to save a bunch of money and save something from the garbage.
My Advice
Don't be afraid to take some of these types of switches, etc. apart to see how they work. You might find they are repairable.
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