Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - Will Fan Fall? And Wobble...

FINALLY finished installing a ceiling fan today (long story) and wanted to know if it could fall down. I accidentally over tightened the setscrew on the hanger ball while attaching it to the downrod and the screw head broke off. There was about 1/16 in. thread left on the piece I broke off and the remaining screw is flush against the hanger ball. Should I be concerned about the screw coming loose over time and the fan falling? At least I can get the screw out if it does if I catch it before falling.

The fan is wobbling too much for my taste and wondering if it can do damage to anything over time. I've checked the outlet box, hanger bracket and downrod connections to the motor coupling and don't see any loose connections. In fact, the downrod on the ceiling end looks like it isn't budging but the fan blade area is moving. Will check to see that all connections are tight but not enough to cause my first problem. Next step? Swap out two adjacent blades until I find the problem?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Edit: Added links to vid clips if anyone is interested.

http://sec-tech.org/Documents/Fan-1.avi

http://sec-tech.org/Documents/Fan2a.wmv

NoMowing, Welcome to the DIY Forums.
You can purchase balancing kits (under $2) for your fan. If it is moving as much as you indicate, I would say something is not tight or is not fastened properly. Even a cheap fan is not usually out of balance that bad. Good luck.
I would find a replacement for the broken screw.

NoMowing, Welcome to the DIY Forums.
You can purchase balancing kits (under $2) for your fan. If it is moving as much as you indicate, I would say something is not tight or is not fastened properly. Even a cheap fan is not usually out of balance that bad. Good luck.
I would find a replacement for the broken screw.

majakdragon,

Thanks for the quick reply and info. My Emerson fan came with a balancing kit and will try that last if moving blades around doesn't do the trick. I was thinking about taking a quick movie of it and posting to see if it would be "normal".

I have an extra screw, but I can't get the broken one out. I could unwire the fan, take it down, take it apart from the bottom end and try to work it out. Just not sure if it would be the trouble.

Off to climb my ladder. :(

Tend to the balancing first, as that seems to be your worst problem, now. Is it a 4 or 5 blade fan. If a 4 blade fan, swap adjacent blades. If it is a 5 blade, swap every other one, two at a time. In other words swap 1 & 3, then 2 & 4, then 3 & 5, etc. One swap should do it, though, then use the balance kit.

Tend to the balancing first, as that seems to be your worst problem, now. Is it a 4 or 5 blade fan. If a 4 blade fan, swap adjacent blades. If it is a 5 blade, swap every other one, two at a time. In other words swap 1 & 3, then 2 & 4, then 3 & 5, etc. One swap should do it, though, then use the balance kit.


Looked at the balancing kit and that may be less trouble for me. Thanks for the advice. It is a five blade fan. Glad you said to try every other since the kit only talked about adjacent swaps.

I also included links to clips in my original post if anyone is interested to see my "problem".

Your wobble is minimal, so the balancing kit should work. Difficult to watch the wobble with the baby swing middle of the fan, but it seems fixable with the kit rather than swapping blades.

Your wobble is minimal, so the balancing kit should work. Difficult to watch the wobble with the baby swing middle of the fan, but it seems fixable with the kit rather than swapping blades.

chandler,

Tried swapping blades and noticed little to no difference. Strange thing is that I would measure blade tips to ceiling and sometimes one or two blades would be off +/- 1/2" from ceiling. Then I would swap them and things looked better and sometimes not. Doesn't look like I can safely bend the flanges because they look like they can snap easily. I already overdid it with the set screw, then a shower head yesterday...my luck can't be any better.

Tried the balancing kit process and before I peeled the backing and stuck one of the weights on (used the tool for testing) I decided to tape one down. Used the tool on another blade then it dawned on me that I'm using the fan to pull air up and not down according to the instructions. I reversed the fan to clockwise and the fan wobbles more in that direction. That is the direction I need.

Does this mean I have to retest in that direction? Will I be fixing only one side of the problem? This is a long process and about to call it quits because of the time it is taking.

Anyone?:wall:

The little horseshoe looking thing is a test weight, so only use it on the blade. Not the horseshoe and a weight. That will compound your wobble. You want the air to move down in the summer and up in the winter to wash your walls with heated air.

The little horseshoe looking thing is a test weight, so only use it on the blade. Not the horseshoe and a weight. That will compound your wobble. You want the air to move down in the summer and up in the winter to wash your walls with heated air.

chandler,

The tool (horseshoe looking thing) was used to test the blades for wobble and then stuck the weight in the tool's place when I determined which ones needed them. I ended up using a total of two weights on two adjacent blades with very little wobble. The directions in my kit had me find the blade with the least wobble and then retest at different points along that blade (I chose five). Then I had to try another blade and repeat until the wobble was gone or as good as it was going to get. It was a long process, but I am happier now. I have to stare at the fan to notice the slight wobble now, even in both directions.

The reason I am blowing air up in the summer is because I have a loft area that gets extremely hot and stuffy. It was pretty bad heat wise when I was installing this fan at ~13ft. too (the ceiling slopes up higher into the loft area). This is the only reason I got the fan, although it does make the room below look better. Using the fan to blow air down did very little to correct the loft's problem, and my wife complained that it was too "cold" downstairs (which it normally is and have not had any problems with it being warm downstairs). When I reversed the fan to blow air up at full speed, we immediately felt comfortable in the loft area and can enjoy the hot summer days again upstairs. There is also a pleasant draft downstairs now but not a "cold" one like the one my wife felt with the fan blowing down.

It will be interesting this winter when I try bringing some heat into the downstairs since the loft gets too hot at times. Maybe I'll have to push it down in my situation.

Thanks again for your assistance and have a great 4th of July!
:)