Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - ceiling fan shooting oil!

It took me a little while to figure it out but my ceiling fan is shooting something all over my ceiling at very irregular intervals. it's not like you can sit under it and get sprayed and matter of fact, ive never seen any evidence of it on the floor or furniture.

I'm painting that room so was thinking i guess i should get a new one so i dont mess up my new paint. But was wondering if you thought there may be an ez fix to the fan so maybe i can use it in another room?

or just best to toss it? All performance aspects are great, just the stuff all over my ceiling :eek:

Some fans (high quality Hunters IIRC) used to have oil bathed bearings. Super quiet and long life. Never heard of your issue, but I can't imagine a fix for it. I'd say replace it, good fans aren't that expensive.

oh so i may have a high quality one eh? thats nice. Makes me not wanna toss it lol.

so if they dont make oil bearings anymore, what should i look for when i buy a fan? Speaking of noise, yes you are right, this one doesnt make a peep so if i get one that does make noise i'd be upset.

I buy Hunter and nothing but. Supposedly Hampton Bay is good, but I know some of the history and their common light fixtures are cheap..so I stay with Hunter. I put up 4 when we moved here and 2 have run constantly for 2 yrs...no problems. I had Hunters at my house in VA..16 years no issues.

They may still make the oiled ones...you need to look at it closely and see if you find a manufacturer. Hunters are pretty clearly marked, most better ones are.

If it is an oilfilled one, you have a treasure, so if it can be fixed, try to do so. Most oiled Hunters have been running since the 20's. I came close to capturing one on a remodel, but the owner did their research and made me leave it. Darn!

i guess the only way to tell is take it down? I'm keeping it up until it's time to paint the ceiling...a few weeks probably. But i never did work on ceiling fans so am clueless the ins and outs of them.

And as Marksr would advise, make sure you prep the oil areas before you paint, as it will bleed through. Let us know the brand when you decide to take it down. We're interested in how it goes.

will it be evident how to take this thing down from the ceiling? i added the light kit myself so know how that comes off, but beyond that i'm unfamiliar.

Yeah, I would remove the light fixture first (well, after you remove power from the unit). Then you can remove the blades. It can be removed without removing the blades, but it is a PITA. Once the blades are removed, drop the ceiling bell, unwire it and remove the body from whatever is holding it up.

ok so it does need 'ripped apart' in some manner, i wasnt sure. Though i did realize you probably couldnt just 'slide it' off a bolt in the ceiling fully intact ;) But one could dream

and im assuming since this is so well installed that any new one should just pop right on..i hope

ok im scrubbing the walls now and i see more of the same 'oil' that i supposed was coming from the fan. the splatter near the fan is what made me think this was oil from the fan. But i am not so sure that oil could, even with the fan on high, shoot to some of the places that ive had to clean it off of. Some are well over 10+ feet away.

But then what other explanation would there be? it's weird. I know i cleaned off the ceiling about a year ago, you can still see the 'clean marks' so the substance definitely has come back since then. Maybe it's some kind of bug poop lol?

Ceiling fixtures are often convenient exits for roof or plumbing leaks since the boxes aren't really sealed.

i just wonder what substance is tan and hard to get off even with sandpaper blocks? maybe i should scrape some off and deliver it to my local ag center :)

i just wonder what substance is tan and hard to get off even with sandpaper blocks? maybe i should scrape some off and deliver it to my local ag center :) Or call CSI.:) Chemistry department of a local college might be willing to test it.

Could be blood from the head of a tall Texan who walked in the room! :) The more posting, the less I believe you have an oil filled fan, and you may be getting bleed through from moisture or leaks in the attic.

I had a desk fan about a year ago that started spraying oil at me at work. I was pissed. Ruined a good shirt. True story.

Could be blood from the head of a tall Texan who walked in the room! :) The more posting, the less I believe you have an oil filled fan, and you may be getting bleed through from moisture or leaks in the attic.


yes but is also some of the same stuff on walls...10 ft away from the fan and 5-6 ft down from the ceiling. Thats when i realized hey this probably isnt oi but i dont see how the stuff on the walls could be attic stuff eitherl. But the splatter above the fan is weird. I should take a pic if i can remember.

i definitely have a very high RH house and until last month had water in the crawlspace after all heavy storms. But this kind of stain is not in any other room of the house and thats why i thought it was the fan at first. I dont get why only a certain room would do this. Plus it's actually the 'driest' moist room in the house. I have sensors all over the house and the living room is 10% lower than the bedroom or bathroom.

I also do have different stains in my kitchen. Mystery stains on the ceiling. but i wouldnt characterize it as water leaks, looks more like a kid tossed a blob of spaghetti sauce. i guess if water leaked and carried the wood color of the joists or something it could be water. But i'm not sure. Ill have to take pics (ties string to finger :))

If it was from internal fan source, wouldn't there be residue evidence on the fan motor and blades themselves, to conclude this, really?

i never thunk of that. Thus the value of posting here :)

pics..as good as i could get

http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo155/luckydriver/IMG_3087.jpg

http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo155/luckydriver/IMG_3088.jpg

http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo155/luckydriver/IMG_3092.jpg

http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo155/luckydriver/IMG_3090.jpg

Stop shaking your beers and sodas before you open them...lol

Seriously..are they surface only? Can they be scraped or washed off? If painted over do they reappear in the same spot....

i can only say last year i got them off with a rag and water but this year the new ones that appeared are even hard to get off with sandpaper (i'm painting my ceiling)

well i got to other parts of my room now...around my huge bay window on the side 'wall' of it, some of the brown stuff was there too and i just wish i had a mythbusters test kit to see if it could be smear pattern from the fan..was hard to get off with sandpaper whatever it is

i did paint up around my ceiling fan and while i didnt per se hunt for an oil leak, there was nothing obvious leaking down..so the bug poo theory seems pretty confirmed. Also it's been 2 days and so far where i painted near the fan doesnt show any new splatter.