Fanimation belt driven ceiling fans...

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

sw_ross

Senior Member
Location
NoDak
Anyone ever install these fans?
They’re the antique’ey looking fans where you have a motor unit in one location and 2-4 fan blade units located 10’-12’ away and a belt from the motor spins the blade units.

I have a customer that is interested in having one installed. I think it’d be the right setting for something like this. It has a vaulted ceiling with old timbered trusses. The bottom of the horizontal part of the truss is a little over 10’ AFF. I’d mount the motor and blade units to the bottom side of the horizontal part. That would put the blades about 9’ aff.

Seems hard to find much information online about them other than where to buy them at.
I’ll probably end up ordering one just to look it over before installing, I just wondered if anyone had experience with them and any opinions or advice.
Thanks
 
Similar units are used at Dave And Buster's, and they look cool. You are correct that you want to have them consistent with the feel/mage of the business.
For multiple fans from one motor additional hardware like idler pulleys is generally necessary. I hope Fanimation offers those too.
 
I have seen them at McMenanims in Washington and Oregon. One in Centralia WA is in a 100 year old pool hall. Nice look for that era business.
 
Yep, I seen those at Dave & Busters.

More for ambience than anything else. Given today's much smaller and much more efficient DC drive fan motors, I would choose those over a belt. But if cust wants belt drive system so be it.

I however have not seen belt drives other than in high ceilings and belt runs all horizontal. How would it work in a vaulted ceiling?
 
I did one decades ago. One thing I remember being an issue is the mechanical stresses of the belts and how the fans are mounted, especially the drive motors. The architect did the layout and had the drive at one end of a long string. The bearings wore out really fast because of the lateral stress on only one side. 6 months later we had to move the circuit to have the powered fan in the middle so that the belts went in opposite directions to balance it out.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top