If you watch your neighbors’ trash as closely as Cait watches ours, you’ve seen how many fans and small appliances get thrown out after only one season.

With fans, the problem often is the gunk built up during a season and not the motor, so a fan ends up getting thrown out well before its time.

Via lifehacker.com we found this detailed info for cleaning a box fan and getting more years out of it.

Do yourself, and those you live with, a favor and clean the fan outside or in the garage with a tough grease-cutting cleaner, a big roll of paper towels and the vacuum cleaner nearby.