Wobbly ceiling fan

Aug 20, 2005 6 Replies

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Scott 21 years ago

I have a ceiling fan with a serious wobble. I've done my level best to balance the thing -- it's better than it was, in that it no longer terrifies me to run it on high speed, but it's still not right (22g of weight on a single blade tip seems excessive). The wobble makes a noise somewhere in the mounting hardware, which is not so good with a bedroom ceiling fan. SWMBO does not approve.

So, any opinions on pulling the fan down and taking it to the workbench to maybe get it balanced better? I know the runout is pretty far from OK, and that's hard to fix right while it's still dangling from the ceiling. It also seems that static balancing might be a lot easier with the fan temporarily mounted to a vertical surface.

Thanks,

-Scott

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Eric 21 years ago

Take it back. Eric

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Roy Starrin 21 years ago

Couple of questions to help sort this out: For You: Is the fan housing loose on the mounting/box to which it is attached, i.e. can you wobble the whole unit back and forth? Maybe you need to "heavy up" the mounting system above the ceiling?!?!? For those rendering advice: Can balancing the blades correct the above problem?

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Scott 21 years ago

Everything that's supposed to be tight is tight, and the ceiling box is the right kind for a fan. There's just enough play inherent in the pipe mount that things will still move around. It's no different than other pipe mounted fans I've seen.

-Scott

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Scott 21 years ago

Pretty extreme, don't you think? Sure, I paid $130,000 for the fan, and for that kind of money I'd have expected a better piece of equipment. OTOH, the attached house and plot of land are pretty nice. :)

-Scott

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George E. Cawthon 21 years ago

Why take it down. You start with a blade any blade and clamp the weight to that blade at the hub. Then you slowly move it outward. Look for any wobble and listen for any noise. If it is the wrong blade you will quickly notice it as you move the weight out, so move to the opposite blade. Maybe you will have to go to one of the other blades. When you get it the best you can, move to an adjacent blade with another weight. if that doesn't work then move to the the other "adjacent" blade.

It sounds like you have the main out of balance figured out, but weights are need on two adjacent blades. Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes, depending on how fast it spins up. Use anything that will clip on the blade, clothes pin, small spring clamp, even a smal c clamp, or just use tape with coins. For a permanent fix, put an appropriate screw into the blade(s.

OTOH, if you have lots of runout then you have poor bearings so fix those first.

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Scott 21 years ago

The bearings are OK, it's the blade brackets. Runout may not be the right term. The blade tips don't ride in quite the same plane, and I believe one blade is pitched a little differently than the rest. I'm now thinking that balance weights can't compensate for that. A new set of brackets might help. Might not.

Anyway, I thought it was worth a try, as it's a nicer fan than what I can afford to replace it with.

-Scott

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