TiHabanero

Well, the ol' body ain't, but like my daily rider running 1986 Campagnolo Nuovo Record, the attic fan in the house just keeps on truckin'. Fan was making some serious noise, so I looked at it and found the motor bearings have oil ports and the fan shaft does as well. Some 5w30 and all is quiet. Been in this house for 16 years and never looked at the thing thinking it ran on sealed maintenance free cartridge bearings, and I know the twit before me never touched it. He lived here for 20 years. The old stuff was built to be simple and durable. Built to a better standard than today's stuff.
Was going to post in Classic and Vintage, however I figured those over 50 can best understand this.

CliffordK

Hard to say. Society is changing.

Cars from the 70's really took a beating by the time they reached 100,000 to 150,000 miles.

Many "modern" cars can reach 200,000 miles with hardly needing a tuneup.

There's some good stuff, and some bad stuff on the market. Plus, maintenance varies.

So much stuff today is designed to toss rather than repair. But, perhaps that has been true for quite some time. There have been some really cheap bikes made in the past.

And, of course, some disposable items have far too short of a lifespan.

JanMM

I installed a thermostatically-controlled two speed attic fan in our house about 20 years ago. Haven't been in that attic for at least a couple of years (split-level with two attics plus a garage attic!) But, I can hear it running when it is hot and think I hear it running faster when its really hot. I promise to closely inspect it when I am retired next year. Sooner if I stop hearing it on a hot day.

TiHabanero

For sure there has always been some good stuff and some bad stuff, but this attic fan really impresses me. House was built in 1964 for an electrical engineer. He spec'd everything to his satisfaction, and it shows. Aluminum wiring is in all the houses around here, but mine has copper. The wall switches are still perfectly tight, but I am slowly changing them to the "décor" style, better for arthritic hands. Anyway, I like to fix stuff, and this was one sure easy fix!

John E

Yup -- aluminum house wiring was a dumb idea, right up there with some the early efforts in plastic supply pipe. I am glad to have copper for both, having heard too many stories of house fires and water leaks.

I have a hip roof with only one half-gable, and I did mount a fan behind the vent about 20 years ago. It is controlled by a master switch in series with a thermostat, and it still works, although I really should update to a more modern duct-venting system.

TiHabanero

John E, how would you update the ventilation? I think the vent fan is a smart idea, and bet it works well.

BlazingPedals

I'll cross my fingers for ya, but thinking back to the days I fixed mainframe computers... if the fans started squeaking, we'd oil them but get a replacement on order. Oiling them quieted them down for about 2 weeks before they inevitably failed. Nobody put bearings on fan shafts, they were all bushings with felt packing to hold in the oil.

TiHabanero

The fan blade shaft is brass or bronze bushings with two oil ports, and fore/aft play is adjustable. The electric motor must be ball bearing with an oil port on each end of the motor. There is likely a thrust bearing (bushing) on the ends that get lubed by the oil as well. I seriously doubt this thing will fail anytime soon, although there is a lot of fore/aft shaft play on the motor, and I don't see any way to take up the slack. Sure hope it lasts another 20. By that time I will be near dead or living in one of the kid's houses.