Balancing a Ceiling Fan

[Little Bill]

I have a customer that has ask me to balance a ceiling fan while I'm there to do other work. I have never had to or attempted to balance one. I bought the little balancing kit and read the directions. Seems to me (like a lot of instructions) there may be some things left out. Like which direction the fan should be going when checking, or which side of the blade you put the balancing clip on.

Can anyone shed some light on this and give me a few pointers on how to accomplish this?

 

[K8MHZ]

I won't do it.

I have had fans that, even after hours of trying, just could not be balanced. Others here have had better luck, but mine has been so bad that I make it clear to the customer that any balancing is going to be their headache. I have installed many quality fans that needed no balancing at all and found that most of the cheap ones wobble like they are going to come out of the mounts.

And whose liability is it when one of the weights come flying off when the fan is on high and damages something or injures someone?

 

[Gac66610]

Agreed, I won't balance fans either.
with that said, the only thing I will check, are the blades.
Just to make sure they all are at the same height, or distance from ceiling
as for the kits they go into a drawer for the homeowners, along with warranty papers

 

[hurk27]

Bill you have entered an area I try to never go, because you can waste a few hours trying to get a fan to not wobble, many times it can be nothing more then the top of the blades are heavy in dust, or the arms or blade angle are bent from factory specs, in most cases if the blades are marked with the same Oz weight then it is a bent arm problem.

I use a 6' ladder and position it so I can measure each blade to the ladder to see if all arms are the same, if I find a blade a little lower or higher I tweak it up or down but not much as they can snap off, also check the pitch of each blade using the same method, about 2" in from the end of the blade or at the blades widest point where ever that is, you will be measuring each side of the blades to see how many have the same pitch, then tweak the ones that are different so they have the same, again not very much as these pot metal arms can break.

now if you get that all done and it still wobbles then it is time to find the sweet spot to place the correct weight to the right point.

To do this your kit should have come with a dummy weight that just clips on to the edge of the blade, you start in the leading edge of the blades at the point of the center of the blade from the arm to the end of the blade, you move it to each blade till you find the one that reduces the most wobble, then you move it in toward the motor or out toward the blade end, till it further reduces the wobble, if you still have wobble try it on the back side of the blade lagging edge, if the wobble is less then your weight should be closer to the lagging edge if not the weight needs to be closer to the leading edge, you can also tape the dummy weight somewhere in between leading and lagging edges to find the exact sweet spot.

Once you find the sweet spot, if the fan still has some wobble repeat the above.

As you can see this can take allot of time and if it is not a fan I supplied, I tell the home owner I have to charge my hourly rate, and it will be 2 hours+ to do this.

Also I try never to supply fans just because of this, if the job does require me to supply the fan I almost always bid in balancing at least 40% of how many I install.

 

[hurk27]

Wow again there were no post when I started, but at least we all agree this is a bad offer of help to go through, as they can be a pain to do.

 

[hurk27]

I won't do it.

I have had fans that, even after hours of trying, just could not be balanced. Others here have had better luck, but mine has been so bad that I make it clear to the customer that any balancing is going to be their headache. I have installed many quality fans that needed no balancing at all and found that most of the cheap ones wobble like they are going to come out of the mounts.

And whose liability is it when one of the weights come flying off when the fan is on high and damages something or injures someone?

Funny I find the opposite many times, with the exception of Casablanca (very heavy weighted fans that never wobble) I get allot of hunters that wobble but cheap Menard's $35.00 specials seem to never wobble:happysad: go figure

Now Hampton Bay (Hunters competition line) never wobble, and I will say in the last year Hunters have got much better.

 

[Little Bill]

Wow again there were no post when I started, but at least we all agree this is a bad offer of help to go through, as they can be a pain to do.

I have to hang two other fans and I'm not furnishing them. The fan she wants balanced is one that she already has installed, and I didn't furnish or install it either.
I may just tell her I'll give it ONE try and not guarantee results or that the weights won't come flying off in the future.:happyno:

 

[templdl]

The last fan that I instgall I weighed each blade befire mounting them.

The last fan that I instgall I weighed each blade befire mounting them.

The last one that I put up I had to repaint the blades a all white. Before a mounted the blades I weighed them to assure that each weighed the same. I got lucky as there was one that was lighted that I applied and extra light coat of paint in one side.
After installing all of the blades that fan ran flawlessly.

If I ever had to balance a fan ever again I would either weight the blades to assure that they all weigh the same before mounting the blades. Or, with an existing fan I would remove the blades, weigh each one assuring that they all weighed the same and remount them instead to wasting time trying to get lucky on trying to locate which one of the blade was lighter.
If the blades weigh the same then it's trying to figure would what mechanically is causing the fan to appear out of balance.
Should you show the homeowner that all blades weigh exactly the same then I think they will at least view your work as credible. As such they may be more understanding that there is another issue with the fan other than the blades being out of balance. It is very possible that you will find that it may be a loosing proposition after you eliminate the weight of the blades as being the issue.

 

[ActionDave]

I have a customer that has ask me to balance a ceiling fan while I'm there to do other work. I have never had to or attempted to balance one. I bought the little balancing kit and read the directions. Seems to me (like a lot of instructions) there may be some things left out. Like which direction the fan should be going when checking, or which side of the blade you put the balancing clip on.

Can anyone shed some light on this and give me a few pointers on how to accomplish this?

Before pulling out the weight kit try swapping two of the blades.

 

[hurk27]

There is one problem that you can't fix with just balancing.

If the fan in mounted close to a wall, on a pitch or vaulted ceiling, where the blades come close to the ceiling, this will cause a back pressure as the blade passes this point and it will push the blade away from it which will cause a wobble, if high enough you can try a longer down rod to put more space between the blade and ceiling, or get a smaller fan.

 

[Little Bill]

That fan was pityfull! I don't think a weight anywhere would help it. I believe, along with it being a cheap fan, the mount wasn't right. I didn't take it down to see. I suggested she get another fan.:thumbsup:

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I have balanced a few quite successfully. There is a trick to it and once you get it down it is not so bad. I generally can do them in less than 10 minutes.

You need to put the weight on the outer edge of a blade and try to see if it helped the fan wobble less. Do this to all the blades one at a time and determine which blade when weighted helped the most. Then on that blade start in the middle and attach the weight on the tailing edge, I believe. Then move it half the distance to the front of the blade and see if the wobble improves. Then from there you either work toward the outer edge or back toward the middle watching the improvement each time.

 

[rt66electric]

Strobe Light???

Strobe Light???

Could a person Use a Strobe light. One of those scientific ones that has adjustable frequency. I know I have seen one for balancing tires, but I think the trigger was based on vibration instead of frequency.\


Dennis

 

[hillbilly1]

I throw the weight kits away, I do as others have stated, measure from the ceiling while rotating. If I cannot get it to balance that way, they need a new or better fan.

 

[readydave8]

When a customer asks me to balance a paddle fan I say that I can try but might spend hours on it and not make it any better, usually they withdraw request.

When I hang a new fan I leave it running blowing down on medium speed and leave the balance kit with the owners manual.

 

[Little Bill]

When a customer asks me to balance a paddle fan I say that I can try but might spend hours on it and not make it any better, usually they withdraw request.

When I hang a new fan I leave it running blowing down on medium speed and leave the balance kit with the owners manual.

I've never seen the balance kit come with the fan. I bought a couple of them just in case the HO insisted I try it. She didn't!

Edit: I still haven't heard anyone say in which direction should the fan be running when trying to balance. Or does it matter, or should you check in both directions?

 

[Hv&Lv]

I've never seen the balance kit come with the fan. I bought a couple of them just in case the HO insisted I try it. She didn't!

Edit: I still haven't heard anyone say in which direction should the fan be running when trying to balance. Or does it matter, or should you check in both directions?

The kits I have say to put the clip on the leading edge. I guess leading edge would depend on which direction you have the fan on.:.

http://www.jandorf.com/instructionsheets/Ceiling%2fFan Hardware/60301.pdf

 

[hurk27]

I've never seen the balance kit come with the fan. I bought a couple of them just in case the HO insisted I try it. She didn't!

Edit: I still haven't heard anyone say in which direction should the fan be running when trying to balance. Or does it matter, or should you check in both directions?

Bill most of the kits I have seen say run the fan blowing down and put the clip on the leading edge as I posted above in my book I wrote on how to balance a fan LOL, but as to which fan comes with the kits? almost all Hunters and Hampton Bays as well as many more costly ones, but many of the cheaper ones I have seen usually don't have them, even Casablanca's had them but I have never had to use one on them.

Anyone know if Casablanca fans are still made, I have seen one in quit some time and wonder if they went out of business?

 

[Article 90.1]

Step 1. Go to lighting store and personally pay $200 or more for a real fan.
Step 2. Remove customers wobbly fan and replace with good one.
Step 3. Thank customer, clean up and go to lunch, because even though you just spent $200 you saved your self much more in time, aggravation and lost labor.

Step 4 (If necessary) get out the BFH and whack it!

 

[Little Bill]

Step 1. Go to lighting store and personally pay $200 or more for a real fan.
Step 2. Remove customers wobbly fan and replace with good one.
Step 3. Thank customer, clean up and go to lunch, because even though you just spent $200 you saved your self much more in time, aggravation and lost labor.

Step 4 (If necessary) get out the BFH and whack it!

After $200 for the fan, I have no lunch money!:happysad::lol: