Ceiling Fan Failure

For about the past month the ceiling fan has had a squeak that has gotten progressively louder as the month went on. I had tried some WD-40, to no avail. The other morning the fan quit completely.

I took the whole assembley apart and found the reason why our fans fail. I found that all four carbon brushes had worn at an irregular angle. They should have worn uniformly and square to the commutator. I believe that the reason for this is that the fan is hung at the same angle as the ceiling, rather than plumb to the floor. Even though there are bearings on the motor shaft, I was able to wiggle the shaft. This tells me that the 5* angle that the fan is hung on is causing the uneven wear.

I have a new fan on order and it should be here this week. Cost was $83.00 plus shipping.

When I install the new fan I'm going to cut a block at an 85* angle, bore a hole for the wiring and mount the fan plumb rather than cocked at an angle. When I get done, I'll post some pix.

We live a little and learn alot.

Mike,

Good luck and hopefully that wedge will fix the fan issues. Let us know how it turns out.

Interesting, the ceiling fan in our Cat is on a swivel mount.

mattebury wrote:Interesting, the ceiling fan in our Cat is on a swivel mount.

Mark,

That is interesting. Any possibility of a picture or two? I'd like to see that to see if it could be duplicated with commercial parts.

Many thanks.

Me to. Thanks for taking it apart so we can better understand what is going on with these things. It makes perfect sense now that you say it. There is alot of weight in those blades.

schrowang wrote:That is interesting. Any possibility of a picture or two? I'd like to see that to see if it could be duplicated with commercial parts.

Many thanks.

I'll try to remember when I get her out of storage in a couple of weeks.

Curses, foiled again!

Turns out that the table saw here doesn't have a big enough blade to cut the 6" wedge that I need to level the fan out. Oh well, I'll have to wait until I get home in September to do the job.

The kit that I ordered came complete with the motor, housing, blades and switch. I simply replaced the motor and reused the rest of the existing assemblies. I'll save the switch for a time when the OEM switch fails.

Later guys ......

schrowang wrote:

mattebury wrote:Interesting, the ceiling fan in our Cat is on a swivel mount.

Mark,

That is interesting. Any possibility of a picture or two? I'd like to see that to see if it could be duplicated with commercial parts.

Many thanks.

Guess I don't know what I'm talking about, but I could have sworn the fan blades on my unit were on a swivel mount.

But you bring up a good mod. I just wonder how it will travel going down the road.