Live and Learn:

Merry Christmas
Status
Not open for further replies.
R

rattus

Senior Member
Just wasted a couple of hours trying to balance a 5-blade celing fan. Then I decided to inspect the blades. Sure enough, two of the blade brackets were warped. These are die cast parts, and I don't see how they could have gotten so badly out of shape without being broken.

I know pot metal is rather unstable and may deform over time, but I would expect the metal in these brackets to be of better quality.

Anyone have similar experiences?
 
The first thing I do after assembling a fan is to make sure the blades are in the same plane. Despite instructions to the contrary, I gently bend the blades up or down so the tips are equidistant from the ceiling at one point, by rotating the blades past me.

I often do this by eye by hand-spinning the fan and looking at a point on the far wall, and mentally noting "high, middle, middle, low, middle" and then bending them into the same plane, until there is no difference. I haven't had to use a balancing kit in several years.

As for existing fans, I usually see the most problems in kids' rooms; clothes-throwing, pillow-fighting, etc. (Okay, I admit it, that happens in my room, too. :grin:) The worst one was a woman's teen daughter's 4-blade fan that three other electricians couldn't balance.

I noticed that the opposing blades were not 180 degrees opposite; one blade was bent to the side, but within the plane of the circle. I straigthened it by eye, checked for plane again, and instant balance. The mom was so happy, she gave me the replacement fan.

When bending a blade, I hold the motor with one hand and hold the blade a few inches away from the bracket, but apply the force in a way that the bracket takes the brunt of the bending. It's also important to make sure the screws are tight, of course. All of them.
 
Last edited:
I use the same method as Larry. Have more success with it then the fan balancing kits. It's also much faster.
 
Live and Learn

Live and Learn

rattus said:
Just wasted a couple of hours trying to balance a 5-blade celing fan. Then I decided to inspect the blades. Sure enough, two of the blade brackets were warped. These are die cast parts, and I don't see how they could have gotten so badly out of shape without being broken.

I know pot metal is rather unstable and may deform over time, but I would expect the metal in these brackets to be of better quality.

Anyone have similar experiences?
Click to expand...
When I have had this problem I returne the fan for another. I have also took time and tried to balance blades using the weights that come with the fan. When they are that bad you will never get them right. Good Luck. Semper Fi. Buddy
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top