Ceiling fans and their various parts don’t last forever. Over time, they can start to shake, wobble and malfunction. Sometimes, it’s imperative that you have to carry out a little maintenance work in order to keep your units up and running. If you encounter problems with your overhead fan units, below are some quick and easy fixes that you can do.
One of the most frequent problems associated with the ceiling fans is wobbling. Their fan blades can go shaking and this is alarming because they have the potential to fall off and crash down. When someone’s sitting or standing underneath them, it can spell a major injury particularly when the glass components in the light kits can end up shattering.
In order to fix the wobbling of the fans, it’s necessary to identify the possible causes.
Fans wobble because they may be poorly attached to the ceiling or their fan blades are loose, imbalanced or warped.
To address the situation, make sure to tighten the screws that fasten your units towards the ceiling. Next, check on the integrity of the fan blade attachments. Ensure that they are firmly attached to the base of the fan. If wobbling problems still persist, it could be that the fan blades are imbalanced or warped. The imbalance can be corrected by testing and running each blade with an attached clothespin. Sometimes one blade can be lighter than the others, and if found out, buy a balancing kit to remedy the situation. Keeping the blades clean will also help because accumulation of dust can also alter the balance of the blades. Warping of one or more blades can also cause your units to shake. To fix it, you need to remove each blade and have them lie flat on a surface. If one doesn’t conform to the flat area then it needs to be replaced.
Another problem often encountered with the ceiling fans is that they can squeak whenever they are switched on. To get rid of the irritating squeak sound, try to put some lubrication into your unit. You can use lubricating oil or a WD-40 spray which you can buy from any hardware store. Cleaning up the dust that collected inside the bearings greatly helps to lessen the annoying sounds, too.
Finally, you may face the situation when your overhead fans just wouldn’t run and rotate anymore. Before you have your units taken down from the ceiling, inspect the wall switches first. Faulty switches are sometimes the culprit for non-functioning overhead fans. If you are quite handy, you can easily replace these wall switches yourself. However, if your overhead fans are still not working despite changing the switch mechanisms then the problem could be the motor and you just might need to have these parts replaced.