this isn’t true of ceiling fans. These motors are a type called induction motors which, as a cost saving measure, have no permanent magnets and therefore can’t simply be used as a generator.

by means of a 1980s Maytag washing machine motor. Many of us will be used to old-style induction motors, in which two windings were fed out of phase via a large capacitor. This one doesn’t have ...

Today, they’re standard equipment on most new furnaces. “The inducer motor runs a fan which provides air for combustion ...