How to repair a wobbly ceiling fan.

juggjugg Regular
edited October 2011 in Life
After you have installed your ceiling fan you are excited! Then you turn it on and low and behold it wobbles!! :facepalm:
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First you have to make sure all the screws that connect the fan blades to the motor are tight. Sometimes the fan blades have a little lip on the ends where they connect to the fan motor. Its not too uncommon for one not to sit right and to be sloppy. All of these screws must be snug.

Also take down the canopy where the fan connects to the ceiling and make sure the fan mounting bracket isn't loose.
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If everything seems nice and snug and not sloppy we move onto the blades.



DO NOT DO THIS METHOD WITH THE FAN ON

Position your ladder under the end of one of the fan blades. Get on the ladder, and extend your tape measure to the ceiling close to the end of the fan blade. Take note of where the fan blade touches the tape measure. Spin the fan blades to the next blade in line, and Take another mental note as to where the blade touches the tape measure. You will do this for the next three blades, and you will find usually one or maybe two that are not the same mark on the tape measure.

The easiest way to fix this is to bend the blade in the direction it needs to go to correlate with the other blades. Just grab the fan blade in the middle with one hand and the fan with the other hand. If you have white fan blades make sure your hands are clean or you may smudge some of the white paint on the blades. Move the blade in the direction it needs to go and take another measure. Get it as close as possible. Turn the fan on and see If it wobbles.

If it doesn't wobble you have done it.


If it does this is where the counter weights come into play

If you look carefully at the package that your fan came with you will see counter weights. They look like this.
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Once again you will have to find the blade that is knocking your fan out of balance. You will take the black u shaped device and start putting it on each fan blade. Place the clip on the blade which showed the most improvement and by the process of elimination move the clip in and out along the blade to find the position which most improves the wobble.

once you find the exact position place a weight on top of the blade on its center directly in line with the clip. Press on the weight firmly to ensure it is firmly attached to the blade. Remove the clip and discard.

This is about all there is to it. If you have tried all these things and you still have problems please leave post to this thread and I will see what I can do to further help.

Comments

  • edited October 2011
    I shit bricks everytime I go into a restaurant with wobbly ceiling fans positioned over the seating area... I always think they're going to come flying off and churn my limbs off. If only they'd read this guide!
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