I have a house fan, cyclone by lasco, and it was very dirty. Normally if I have a fan so dirty I just wash it with the water hose allowing several hours or the rest of the day drying in the sun, and usually it will run without any problem. This time it did not. I was wondering if it could be the capacitor that got wet or the 3 speed switch. If the capacitor is bad will the fan still run with a nudge of the fan or will it not run at all?

Smaller induction motors don't have capacitors. Have you tried to oil the fan motor?

If it has a capacitor and is wet across the terminals it will burn it up quickly. Most of these fans are shaded pole motors with no capacitors, however. If it has a capacitor you will need a meter to check it out to see if a winding is open, or if it is the switch. Oiling the motor may work if it's tight.

There is a small black square electrical ( I don't know ) on the hot side of most of these smaeck.ll electrical motors that I think are some how connected with the draw of voltage goes to high ( setting per set on this little black thing ) that the heat causes this to blow out. Its some kind of thermo-controling preset safety device. Can't get the motors to run with out these onb them by bypassing . Can't seam to find out were to get these little thermoal heater protection black thing. All seam to have little differences in each others were I can't swap to cross check. I bet this could be you prob. Too. Durty botor, hot motor, pulls to many amps. blows this little disposible heater. Let me know if anything could help me fix my friends fans here in palm springs, ca. may / 15/ 2013 and already 113*f. thanks. The old people need all the help possible. Dan. [email protected]

You should not run it with a bad capacitor because it will burn up the motor. A new capacitor is only about $5.00 or less. Make sure to take it to the parts store and match it exactly. You will find the cheapest ones at HVAC supply stores or sometimes you can get one very cheap from an HVAC repairman. They get new ones every time they change a motor and sometimes throw away many fairly good ones. Have him test it first: the old one and the new one. A bad capacitor will cause the thermal overload to blow.