I’ve had these steel fans over a decade and I maintain them with a little grease each summer. This summer in particular, I think the grease in the can is degrading and I’ve needed to do this maintenance three times this year so far. Not wanting to futz with this another time this year, I tried a new lubricant: baby oil (the mineral oil base kind of baby oil).

Works great and now my living room smells ever so slightly of baby.