Bathroom Fan Timer Saved from the Garbage

crwdns2853023:0crwdne2853023:0

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.

crwdns2853024:0crwdne2853024:0

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.

crwdns2853025:0crwdne2853025:0

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.