If you can afford it, get a DC ceiling fan. They are silent in operation. I've yet to find an AC ceiling fan which doesn't hum like mad
- and it seems worse at the slowest speed (where the noise of the blades moving air is least) because it becomes so obvious. And if they have lights, the glass shades just add to the noise as it seems they vibrate at just the right frequency to add to the noise.
More info here:
True. You often see them in films etc. ;-)
Yup. Even going round mums with her large rooms it still feels 'stifling' (to us) unless you open a window or dig a fan out.
This downstairs ceiling is 8' 6" high and so it well out of the way. I think the upstairs ceiling is a bit lower and the fan is over the bed so you do need to remember it's on when ... well ... . ;-)
Does that also work (as well) in the winter Dave? We are EOT and the flank wall is exposed to the sun for the second half of the day. That means if there is any sun about it acts a bit like a large storage rad, keeping the house warm in the evenings. Not sure how much hotter it makes the house in the summer but at least you can easily let that heat *out*. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
The Mrs was having her 'total knee replacement' in this weather a few years back and there was a fight for what few fans were available. They would allow us to bring a fan in from home but did allow us to bring in a brand new one (issues with getting stuff PAT tested or summat).
We left it there on the understanding it stayed in that ward (not there was much hope of that). ;-)
Her other knee was done in a more modern hospital and that was fully air-conditioned. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
The sales page on that site has fans costing from ?350 to ?900 which is beyond my price range.
Is the hum you mention inherent in all AC fans? I recall having a ceiling fan in a bedroom them in America without noticing any hum. Perhaps there are good designs without any hum problems?
I have a Fantasia Tau 50" in the conservatory. It has 6 forward & 6 reverse speeds. In winter I use it at the lowest reverse speed to just keep the air circulating. In summer, even at full speed, it is only the air movement I hear, never the motor.
I have been in quite a few US motels/hotels with ceiling fans and can't remember any which didn't hum. I sometimes wonder if it's because they are mounted on the ceiling, and that somehow acts as a sounding board. Ordinary floor or pedestal fans never seem to hum.
What's embarrassing about changing the duvet cover?
Owain
You may be right, but IME big ac ceiling fans if fitted correctly and balanced do not hum. Mounting is critical.
We have 3 US ceiling fans which don't hum and 3 small UK ones of which one hums. Mounting and balance is critical IMO. To stop them humming takes quite a lot of work.
Yes, that as well! ;-)
Cheers, T i m
p.s. A mate had a bit of bad luck with one particular girlfriend. First she wrapped his car round a tree, breaking his left arm in several places, then after that healed, broke his nose with a headbut when they were at it. ;-)
Straight after the first event she was embarrassed at the Police Station when the policeman was going though the stuff recovered from the car and asked if the 'toy' was hers (it was) and later when it went off in her bag when she was back at his (very straight-laced / religious) parents house, all being somber because of what happened. ;-)
Of the two we have the one we are most likely to hear humming, especially on the lowest speed (as Jeff mentions) is the bedroom one and in spite of my Tinnitus I still have pretty good hearing. I will agree there is, or as you say, *can* hum slightly but that can also be more of a buzz, caused by something in the fitting rather than the motor itself / directly. By that I mean it can be the glass bowl or the lamp in the fitting resonating to the mechanical vibration caused by the motor acting as a transformer.
With a bit of tweaking, those noises can normally be silenced (putting thicker rubber band around the glass lamp bowl under the 3 flange screws or pinching the metal lamp holder in slightly).
Cheers, T i m
Probably not as noticeable in the winter as the heating will be on so one expects to come in from -5 C or lower and be warm. In summer with it 25+ C outside coming in is pleasantly cools.
What the approximately 20 tonnes of stone through the middle of the house does do is slow down any changes in internal temperature. What you don't do is ever turn the heating off, always have it on a thermostat. 'Cause if that 20 tonnes cools down by a few degrees because you went way for a few days and turned the heating off it takes a long time (days) for the place to become comfortable again. DAMHIKT...
I agree with you, but wonder why those motors hum/vibrate. If there was no hum, the mounting wouldn't be critical. I guess one issue is that we have very little to compare fan motors with. Usually, with an AC motor there is quite a bit of associated noise (drill, vacuum cleaner, etc) which drowns out any hum. When my electric mower jammed recently, that made a really loud hum which I'd never noticed before. What low-power (100W or so) mains motors are there other than fans where you might be able to compare the hum levels?
The DC fans have a SMPS, so any "hum" would be above the upper hearing frequency. Mind you, that raises another problem - mine produced a large amount of RFI! Fortunately, being in the conservatory the aluminium frame helped keep it under down. I also fitted a suppressor to the mains leads near the SMPS and that worked well too.
BTDT. But they always seemed to work loose after a while.
Ceiling fans have been around for over a 100 years; you'd have thought they'd have sorted these problems out by now!
I think its the motor design pure and simple.
Cheap and cheerful
plus the fact that the fans being slow are fairly quiet
AC ceiling fans use shaded pole motors, these produce pulsed propulsion, which is damped by the weight of the fan blade and air resistance. If the blade is not balanced, you will get vibration. Most other appliances use brush motors which are inherently noisier due to higher rotor speeds and commutator roughness. Some lawnmowers use induction motors where the hum is only audible when the rotor is stalled. All consumer motors suffer from being designed down to a price. I have a fan heater which is 60 years old and still running. This is because the sintered motor bearing design was engineered to accept the fan shaft lateral loading. Modern units have inadequate bearings, so clap out after a few years. If it lasts 2 years, that's good enough to sell it!
You do know that in a couple of days you are probably going to have to pack which ever one you buy back into it's box and put it into the loft for 12 months until the sun comes out again:-)
Optimist!
A major advantage of a ceiling fan - you don't need to pack it up and put it into the loft! (You do need to damp dust it, though, they accumulate fluff and dust very well.)
Got one of those recorded phone calls today.
'Now winter is here'
In the heat of the moment (literally) I ordered a portable air conditioning unit to arrive next week. However it's already become cool enough not to need one.
Don't worry - it might be useful one day next year.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.