Rain lamp motor repair

This is the most common question about rain lamps, and unfortunately the answer is not simple or heartening. These are all the comments I've heard on this topic:

• "These [rain lamps] are like Lava Lamps..."nobody" in the business knows (or really cares much) how to repair them."
  http://lampguild.org/QandApage/archives/Q0000123.htm (1-21-06)
  
• "I'm not sure where you can obtain parts for these lamps but a search on eBay for rain lamp brings up many examples."
  http://www.renovators.com/forum/topic_show.pl?pid=380;hlm=relev;hl=lamps#380 (1-23-06)
  
• "Though I know no sources for rain lamp parts, nor any good shortcuts, I've cleaned and restrung a few."
  Jonas (lamp collector and rain lamp enthusiast, in a personal e-mail communication on 1-20-06)
  
• "And with him [Darrel Johnson] dies the secret of how to fix those burnt out motors"
  http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=10618&forum=6&start=0 (1-21-06)
  

Here are the recommendations I've seen, combined with my own recommendations, listed in roughly descending order of practicality:

• Determine if the problem is in the pump.
  The problem may be a jammed pump and not the motor. Remove the pump's end panel where the oil goes in, and with the power turned on, try pushing on the blades inside the end of the pump to see if they will turn. If the problem is just stickiness from the oil or from the scents in the oil, the blades should turn when helped along. If so, it may help to then clean the pump so that the parts that come into contact have lower friction. After that, don't use oils other than mineral oil, and don't use any scents in the oil.
  http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=11135&forum=6&5 (1-21-06)
  

• Attempt to contact the company listed on the motor.
  If you have a Johnson Industries rain lamp, contact Jakel, Inc. (1-22-06), the company that made my Johnson Industries vintage rain lamp motor. They are still in business, and they currently sell c-frame motors that look very similar to their vintage motors. If you have a Creators, Inc. rain lamp, unfortunately that company (which became a division of Haggerty) is now out of business. According to their Assembly Instructions manual, they used to sell replacement motors. Oftentimes businesses and schools that go out of business assign their residual business, products, and transcripts to other companies. There is an outside chance that enough research could turn up such a company that took over Haggerty's trailing business. It is also possible that a Jakel motor might work in a Creators rain lamp, although Creators rain lamps tended to be larger than Johnson rain lamps.

• Check on using a motor from a bathroom exhaust fan.
  One forum member at the link below said rain lamp motors are the same as motors used in bathroom exhaust fans. If this is true, this is a very convenient source of rain lamp motors because many online stores sell such motors for about $20-30 each, such as Aubuchon Hardware (1-23-06), Petesdepot.com (1-23-06), and Do it Best (1-23-06). A Google search using the phrase "exhaust fan motor" with "bathroom" will pull up these sites and more.
  http://www.renovators.com/forum/topic_show.pl?pid=380;hlm=relev;hl=lamps#380 (1-23-06)
  

• Buy an inexpensive rain lamp and use the motor from it.
  Inexpensive modern rain lamps typically cost about $40 new, or $20 used, but some of the modern plastic ones are small so their motors may not be able to handle the pumping load needed in larger rain lamps. Some working vintage rain lamps can be purchased for about $10-20 on eBay or from thrift stores, and some of these old rain lamps are sold only for parts anyway.
  http://www.renovators.com/forum/topic_show.pl?pid=380;hlm=relev;hl=lamps#380 (1-23-06)
  http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=11135&forum=6&5 (1-22-06)
  

• Contact lamp companies that carry parts, especially parts for vintage lamps.
  One lamp parts company is LampCrafters (1-21-06), but there are many others, especially listed on the Internet. I have not checked with any of these to see if any carry rain lamp motors.

• Attempt to find a company that will fix the motor.
  Motors can be repaired, though it could be impractically expensive to do so. The following PDF document gives general recommendations on what to know before having any motor fixed: Guidelines to a Good Motor Repair (1-21-06). Chuck (1-23-06) says a rain lamp motor repair job is likely merely a matter of "rewinding" the motor.

• Attempt to fix the motor yourself.
  Do-it-yourself electrical work is risky since you could burn your house down or electrocute yourself, but it's always a possibility. The page Electric Fan Stopped! (1-21-06) states that modern air fans have a thermal fuse wired into the motor circuit, and that with enough effort this fuse can be replaced by a new fuse spliced into the circuit, which will thereby fix fans with that problem. The following site states that AC motors in general also have such fuses, though I don't know into which category rain lamp motors fall (synchronous/asynchronous, induction, etc.): http://www.epanorama.net/links/motorcontrol.html (1-21-06) Chuck from the first site believes that such thermal fuses are a modern government mandate, so although modern rain lamps probably have such a fuse, vintage rain lamps probably do not. Chuck says vintage rain lamps probably have true open windings, and that such a motor could be repaired by "rewinding" it.

• List in eBay's Want It Now section.
  At least one person has requested a rain lamp motor there before, although I don't know if there were any responses. Other online want ads and newspaper want ads might also work.

Here is what not to do:

• Don't let a salesman sell you some "special oil" that will supposedly get the lamp running again.
  One eBay buyer told me of this heartbreaking story. The oil sold to her was very expensive and did nothing for the defective motor, and therefore was a complete rip-off. After spending all that money on the oil, she had to buy an entire new lamp, anyway.

• Please don't throw away a vintage rain lamp.
  These are vintage historical items that seem to be experiencing a resurgence of popularity along with a regained "fondness for the aesthetics and design of the '40s, '50s and '60s", so the prices could well continue to rise and many vintage rain lamps have strong sentimental meaning to many people. At the very least please donate it to a thrift store, or if practical, sell it on eBay or at a garage sale so that it's not permanently removed from circulation.