Do-It-Yourself Story

This is the third time I have replaced this fan. I finally figured out the root of the problem is the foam rubber strips inside that guide the water away from the fan had rotted away. The water backed up to the fan and various debris or whatever built up on the fan. The resulting imbalance made self destruction inevitable. I have pretty much destroyed the bottom of the unit to let the water drain out before it can accumulate. The hardest part of replacing the fan is getting the heavy air conditioner out of the wall. Then getting the coils out of the way so I could get to the fan required some prying and a moderate amount of force. This was rather scary but worked out OK. Of course the old fan was stuck on the shaft really tight so that took some hammering to get it off, which was also scary but also worked out. This was an excellent opportunity to clean a LOT of rust and stuff out of the inside of the unit, including around the coils and fins. The bottom line is that this was a lot cheaper than a new air conditioner and even a non-expert can do it. Be advised that the failed fan is a symptom and if you do not fix the root cause (in my case poor water drainage) you will be replacing the fan again in a year or two. Just be careful to not break anything copper and the thing should still work.