Just bought a house that has a white hampton Bay ceiling fan/light in a bedroom. The light works fine, When you turn on the fan, you can hear the motor running but the blades won't turn. Both light and Fan have separate pull chain switches. My husband just says yea it doesn't work. Ok figured that out. Why and can I fix it?

Dear Renee:

I'm no expert, but I can tell you that I once had a fan that did the same thing. I was determined to get it to work so I got some WD40 and sprayed it generously inside the "base" where the blades came out and then kept pushing the blades until they began to turn by themselves.

First, make sure there are no dust clots or anything like that in the base, blades, etc. Then turn the fan on high (if it has speeds), spray the WD40, and while it's running, continue to manually push the blades hard to get them to turn a full circle with every push.

If the problem is that the blades needed "lubricating", than this should do the trick and it should begin to turn on its own within a minute or two. If after doing this it still doesn't work, then you may have to face the fact that either there is a disconnect between the motor and the blades, or the motor may be too weak or damaged to turn the blades on its own.

Good luck!

Marea:)

Do the blades turn freely by hand?

Is it a remote fan?

Could be a bad capacitor.

General ceiling fan troubleshooting and help FAQ- Ceiling Fans N More