Balancing Ceiling Fans/Restoring Fans

[jmellc]

Did a sun room job this week. GC had me take down a fan a previous electrician (?) put up. No fiber washers on blade screws. Set screws not tightened on down rod. Remote receiver had not been installed. Fan was not on a fan box & had no independent support. Small wonder customer was complaining about fan being loud, wobbling & remote not working. GC got new remote kit, I installed & fixed other stuff. Still had a lot of wobble. I spend nearly an hour with a balance kit. Got it better but not good the way I would like. I've usually not had to do much balancing if short down rod, but had OK luck when I had to do it. I was really disappointed with this one.

Anyone else hate balancing fans? It can be tedious & frustrating. Wonder if anyone makes a strobe tool like mechanics use to balance car wheels?

I also took a fan down that I may keep & try to restore. Never wanted to before, but this has a classy top light with sculptured glass shade. Has its own pull chain & bottom lights have their PC. Don't think I've ever seen a fan before with 3 chains like that. Seen dual lights with dual PC switch.

Does anyone know a good source of parts for restoring fans?

 

[jaylectricity]

It's been a long time since I actually had to balance one, but yeah, I remember not liking it when it didn't go smoothly. Especially with the homeowner there wondering why the fan you installed is wiggling all over the place.

Then I go into other people's houses and their fan looks like it's taped to the ceiling and they don't even notice.

 

[Ponchik]

On a new install with a new fan, I always warn the client about the possibility of a wobble and i will try to balance for 10 minutes if i can't then i am not responsible. On existing remove/relocate i don't even try to balance.

 

[infinity]

I never balance them. I tell the client, who buys the fan, that cheap fans may wobble. I'll leave them the kit and let them do it or I'll tell them to buy an expensive fan.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Once you get comfortable with balancing, it is not that hard but it can take 15 minutes.

 

[kwired]

Brand new fan better not be unbalanced, if so it is too cheap of a fan to be worth spending the time to balance.

Existing fan could be out of balance for many reasons. Most common is loose screws, or bent blade brackets. Usually bent from impact with foreign object while fan was running. Sometimes you can get new brackets for a fan.

I have often thought about using thread lock on screws. I would think you would want the lighter duty thread lock (I think most brands use a purple color) otherwise you may never get things apart someday when you want to.

 

[cadpoint]

Ceiling fan repair

Ceiling fan repair

Google is your friend:

http://www.eceilingfans.com/

They seem to cover most popular brands.

 

[jmellc]

Once you get comfortable with balancing, it is not that hard but it can take 15 minutes.

I spent nearly an hour on this one. I got it better but not good by any means. IMHO, the most it should do is a small jiggle, the chain dancing a little, etc. 5-15 minutes has always been good before on any others.

This fan had very thick blades, leaf shaped, with veins,etc. So thick the weight clip wouldn't fit on. I peeled a corner from the sticky weight & stuck it on, then did the procedure. If I'd had provisions to do so, I would have weighed the blades & started with the lightest ones. Blades are fairly heavy & fan takes 30 seconds or so to get to full speed.

HO wasn't there at the time to tell me if this was better than before. I figure it had to be. With it assembled so poorly 1st time, it had to have rattled, shaken, etc. I should have run it awhile 1st to get a "baseline" but it was end of day & I wasn't thinking as clearly as I should have been.

 

[jmellc]

Google is your friend:

http://www.eceilingfans.com/

They seem to cover most popular brands.

Thanks Cad. I took a look, they seem to have a lot. I will for sure use them if I restore this fan. Durham & Raleigh used to have locations of Dan's Fan City. They were the only place I knew of that kept extensive parts OTC & also did service. They sold several mid range brands & a few lower cost ones.

I would usually not even think of fixing one up, but this one is different enough that it may be worth it.

 

[K8MHZ]

Sometimes it's not the balance that makes the fan wobble. I own a fan that just can't be balanced. Even with the blades off, it still wobbles. It makes me think that the windings are going bad and the motor is not turning at a constant speed, instead speeding up and slowing down during each revolution of the fan motor. It's scheduled for replacement, until then I just run it on low or medium and put up with the wobble. If I try to run it on high, it just about shakes itself to death.

When I put up fans for others, I tell them right up front that I will not attempt to balance them. I also tell them that the cheaper the fan, the more time will be spent on balancing.

I hate trial and error procedures. That is basically what fan balancing amounts to. Also, if one of the weights YOU put on the fan comes zinging off at some point in the future, guess who is liable for the damages or injuries?

 

[cowboyjwc]

I never balance them. I tell the client, who buys the fan, that cheap fans may wobble. I'll leave them the kit and let them do it or I'll tell them to buy an expensive fan.

Yep. Me too.

 

[jmellc]

Funny thing though. I have seen lots of cheaper fans that do good. Lowe's used to sell a $39 fan that was a good, no frills design. Had the near universal type hanger bracket & std blades, blade holders, etc. Came in plain black or white, 1 type of light kit available, the schoolhouse light. They hung well, easy to assemble, etc. Ran well, no wobble at all.

This fan is a Hampton Bay or Harbor Breeze. I already forgot. Not a cheap looking fan.

 

[hurk27]

Funny thing though. I have seen lots of cheaper fans that do good. Lowe's used to sell a $39 fan that was a good, no frills design. Had the near universal type hanger bracket & std blades, blade holders, etc. Came in plain black or white, 1 type of light kit available, the schoolhouse light. They hung well, easy to assemble, etc. Ran well, no wobble at all.

This fan is a Hampton Bay or Harbor Breeze. I already forgot. Not a cheap looking fan.

I was just going to post the same thing, it seems sometimes the cheaper the fan the better balanced it is, I have had so many Hunters/Hampton Bays wobble right out of the box, While I do disclose that I have to charge my hourly rate to balance a fan I have gotten pretty good at getting them close, first is to check the screws as was said, then using the top of the ladder as a reference point I measure each blade to the ladder on both sides of the pitch and adjust the accordingly so all blades are level and have the same pitch, if they wobble then I go for the weight balancing starting in the middle of each blade till I find the one that removes the most wobble then moving it in or out on the blade to remove the most wobble, when this point is found I then attach the permanent weight and go around once more to get the rest of the wobble out, bent or out of pitch blades are the most reason for fan wobble second is dust build up, and of loose screws.

But there is a problem that will cause a fan to wobble when mounted close to a pitched or vaulted ceiling, the problem is that on a pitched ceiling one side of the fan blades can come too close to the ceiling and push the fan away from it, at certain speeds this will cause an oscillation as the blades pass by the ceiling surface, on vaulted ceiling a five blade fan will only have one blade at a time come close to each side of the vault, by installing a four blade fan can over come this, of course if you can lower the fan to get the blades at least 6" away will also correct this problem.

 

[kwired]

Sometimes it's not the balance that makes the fan wobble. I own a fan that just can't be balanced. Even with the blades off, it still wobbles. It makes me think that the windings are going bad and the motor is not turning at a constant speed, instead speeding up and slowing down during each revolution of the fan motor. It's scheduled for replacement, until then I just run it on low or medium and put up with the wobble. If I try to run it on high, it just about shakes itself to death.

When I put up fans for others, I tell them right up front that I will not attempt to balance them. I also tell them that the cheaper the fan, the more time will be spent on balancing.

I hate trial and error procedures. That is basically what fan balancing amounts to. Also, if one of the weights YOU put on the fan comes zinging off at some point in the future, guess who is liable for the damages or injuries?

I really doubt the possibility of bad winding will do this. They are low torque PSC motors and would likely coast through any kind of intermittent open circuits. Bad winding as in shorted or faulted would probably get overcurrent protection involved in the problems. More likely to be bad bearing, or manufacturing defect and rotor was never in balance from day of manufacture.

 

[ptonsparky]

Foughtbwith one way to long. Ready to give up when I noticed the oscilating fan running in the corner of the room. Dang.

 

[jmellc]

I was just going to post the same thing, it seems sometimes the cheaper the fan the better balanced it is, I have had so many Hunters/Hampton Bays wobble right out of the box, While I do disclose that I have to charge my hourly rate to balance a fan I have gotten pretty good at getting them close, first is to check the screws as was said, then using the top of the ladder as a reference point I measure each blade to the ladder on both sides of the pitch and adjust the accordingly so all blades are level and have the same pitch, if they wobble then I go for the weight balancing starting in the middle of each blade till I find the one that removes the most wobble then moving it in or out on the blade to remove the most wobble, when this point is found I then attach the permanent weight and go around once more to get the rest of the wobble out, bent or out of pitch blades are the most reason for fan wobble second is dust build up, and of loose screws.

But there is a problem that will cause a fan to wobble when mounted close to a pitched or vaulted ceiling, the problem is that on a pitched ceiling one side of the fan blades can come too close to the ceiling and push the fan away from it, at certain speeds this will cause an oscillation as the blades pass by the ceiling surface, on vaulted ceiling a five blade fan will only have one blade at a time come close to each side of the vault, by installing a four blade fan can over come this, of course if you can lower the fan to get the blades at least 6" away will also correct this problem.

You said it all when you said Hunter. They have long made SOME good fans but a lot of them in recent years are nothing but trouble. Their mounting bracket can punch through weak drywll ceiling, the little rubber feet come off easily, they usually don't hang straight & wobble worse than most others. They do seem to have good motors. When people ask my advice, I say "anything but Hunter".

I cannot recall the brands, but I like the fans with a large base. They are wide enough to usually be able to hit a joist for independent support, even if box is centered from joists. Much easier than having to demo/install another box.

 

[kwired]

You said it all when you said Hunter. They have long made SOME good fans but a lot of them in recent years are nothing but trouble. Their mounting bracket can punch through weak drywll ceiling, the little rubber feet come off easily, they usually don't hang straight & wobble worse than most others. They do seem to have good motors. When people ask my advice, I say "anything but Hunter".

I cannot recall the brands, but I like the fans with a large base. They are wide enough to usually be able to hit a joist for independent support, even if box is centered from joists. Much easier than having to demo/install another box.

Same experience with Hunters myself. The ones I have been involved with are from big box stores. Not sure if they have same line of merchandise with big box as with other suppliers or if that is part of the problem. I know of other products that these big stores want to sell, they basically tell manufacturers what the price is going to be or they are not going to buy them. This usually results in manufacturer finding a way to lower cost on the product and quality usually takes a hit with it.

I have had many times with those Hunters where customer compliains that it is wobbling. I tell them for the amount of time it will take me to try to balance it, and it may still not be completely balanced, I could have sold them a fan for much less that would have been balanced out of the box. If it was not I would have brought it back to my supplier and exchanged it for one that was not defective, at my own cost.

 

[jmellc]

I find that Hunters don't hag straight to start with & wobble worse too. Some brands will stay fairly straight just to tweak after locking in bracket. Some too, even if they hang a bit off, still run smooth. Slight slant can't usually be seen.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Years ago I had a problem with the newer Hunter Fans. I installed 3 in a row and each one had the wobble. I was able to balance them but I agree a new fan should not wobble. I bought some cheap fans 20 years ago or more and installed them on the second floor. We rarely use that area of the house. Came home one day and there was the blade laying on the carpet- fan wasn't even on. I grab the next one and it snapped in half, etc. All the blade arms had metal fatigue and broke off with the slightest touch.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Once you get comfortable with balancing, it is not that hard but it can take 15 minutes.

when i've got ceiling fans to install, i tell the customer to purchase what they like,
making SURE it has a remote included.

i flat rate putting them in, and it includes hanging the fan that is furnished...
with one stipulation:

I WILL NOT HANG FANS PURCHASED FROM THE DISNEY STORE

i've only done one. it was pink, had an illuminated glass housing over the
motor, and a illuminated tinkerbell that spun opposite the blade rotation.

almost FOUR hours and five tries to get tinkerbell to spin.