# How to Properly Balance a Ceiling Fan.



## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

A quality ceiling fan...with a properly mounted and level box should not need balancing.:thumbsup:


----------



## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Then why do they come with a balancing kit?


----------



## Black Dog (Oct 16, 2011)

480sparky said:


> Now why didn't I ever think of this?


Those work good......:whistling2::laughing::laughing::thumbup:


----------



## telsa (May 22, 2015)

All that's left is painting to match.


----------



## Southeast Power (Jan 18, 2009)

Level box?


----------



## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

Why did you paint your ceiling blue, 480? That's really ugly.


----------



## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

What difference would a box make if it's level or not? 

Do you level boxes on vaulted ceilings?

Even if the ceiling (i)isn't (/i)level (house has settled, ceiling sags etc), do you level the box anyway?


----------



## DesertDawg (Jun 6, 2013)

Best way to balance a fan is by installing a new one, cheapskate.


----------



## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

This one was easy to balance.


It never wobbled _once _on its way to the dumpster.


----------



## daveEM (Nov 18, 2012)

DesertDawg said:


> Best way to balance a fan is by installing a new one, cheapskate.


For sure. wouldn't even cross my mind to waste time trying to balance. Customer always takes them back... those odd wobbly ones that is.


----------



## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

DesertDawg said:


> Best way to balance a fan is by installing a new one, cheapskate.


Weren't all old fans new at one time? So why did they suddenly get unbalanced?

This type of response merely means you believe every fan will mysteriously become unbalanced. Care to explain why?


----------



## mapmd (Oct 26, 2014)

Hampton Bay / Harbour Breeze for $32.99 made in China baby! Gotta love those flippers who have no sense of show appeal.

I'd always spring for a Casablanca at a minimum. Anything less would bother me to have to look at every day. 

BigAssFans is a nice company too, but pretty hit or miss for my tastes. Difficult one-person installs with them sometimes though.


----------



## Meadow (Jan 14, 2011)

Ive tried it, clip after a while pops off, at least mine did.


----------



## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)




----------



## Dan the electricman (Jan 2, 2011)

mapmd said:


> Hampton Bay / Harbour Breeze for $32.99 made in China baby! Gotta love those flippers who have no sense of show appeal.
> 
> I'd always spring for a Casablanca at a minimum. Anything less would bother me to have to look at every day.
> 
> BigAssFans is a nice company too, but pretty hit or miss for my tastes. Difficult one-person installs with them sometimes though.


Guess where Casablanca fans are made. China baby! 

Many, many people don't want to spend over $200 for one ceiling fan. I wouldn't. It spins and moves air. As long as it's not dirty and fluorescent orange, I'm happy! :thumbup:


----------



## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

After dealing with Casablanca customer support and repair parts..... I turn customers another direction. They were so much of a pain to deal with I want nothing to do with them.

I have been using MinkaAire fans now for several years. Awesome customer service and parts support.


----------



## btharmy (Jan 17, 2009)

daveEM said:


> For sure. wouldn't even cross my mind to waste time trying to balance. Customer always takes them back... those odd wobbly ones that is.


So, you charge them 3 times? Once to install the original wobbly fan, charge them to remove it, sit around waiting for them to exchange it, then charge them to install the replacement? That seems a little too expensive for the average homeowner. Otherwise, you are getting shafted for doing all this work (extra labor) for the price of a simple fan install.


----------



## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Might I mention that the type of ceiling fan in the picture is going to wobble 99 per cent of the time straight out of the box, no matter how properly the ceiling box is installed nor how much care is applied in the assembly and hanging. 

Piece of crap.


----------



## mapmd (Oct 26, 2014)

No doubt Casablancas are made in China too. What isn't?

As for Minkas...only if you're going for a modern look throughout the house. I personally don't care for them, just not my taste. A Minka fan + old people furniture just won't mix.


----------



## chewy (May 9, 2010)

The ceiling fans I have installes have had a ball socket that would let it tilt say 10 degrees? In any direction, never had to balance any.

Did have to change some after some rich guy wanted x-rpms as oppossed to y-rpms, we gave him a price for a VFD and he just found new fans.


----------



## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

chewy said:


> The ceiling fans I have installes have had a ball socket that would let it tilt say 10 degrees? In any direction, never had to balance any.
> 
> Did have to change some after some rich guy wanted x-rpms as oppossed to y-rpms, we gave him a price for a VFD and he just found new fans.


The problem is that the HO is buying a POS that has no quality in design, manufacturing, or packaging. So by the time the product gets to an installer, he has to put little weights all over the thing to attempt to get it to balance out. Only to find it never will.


----------



## DesertDawg (Jun 6, 2013)

*But this fan is BRAND NEW!!*

Called in to balance this fan….


----------



## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

DesertDawg said:


> Called in to balance this fan….


Don't they realize they have to do that to every other blade!


----------



## DesertDawg (Jun 6, 2013)

*Yes, and no...*



480sparky said:


> Weren't all old fans new at one time? So why did they suddenly get unbalanced?
> 
> This type of response merely means you believe every fan will mysteriously become unbalanced. Care to explain why?


All old fans were new at one time, and fans do become unbalanced, more or less mysteriously, but not every fan. Sounds kind of like a metaphor for electricians.


----------



## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

DesertDawg said:


> .......Sounds kind of like a metaphor for electricians.



Hey now! I resemble that remark! :laughing:


----------



## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

Seriously, somebody should re-invent the ceiling fan. Even the new ones look like they came out of the 70's. I have an interior designer who only allows them under protest, they're that ugly. She likes clients who can afford air conditioning and so do I.


----------



## hardworkingstiff (Jan 22, 2007)

99cents said:


> She likes clients who can afford air conditioning and so do I.


In my experience, ceiling fans enhance the air conditioning effect.


----------



## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Come on now, I thought we were all supposed to be fighting global warming so Miami won't be drowned under water (supposed to have happened already).
Ceiling fans use way less energy than air conditioners.


----------



## danhasenauer (Jun 10, 2009)

mapmd said:


> Hampton Bay / Harbour Breeze for $32.99 made in China baby!


...and the HO is wondering why the install is going to cost so much when the fan was so _*inexpensive*_, like there's any correlation between the two.....:icon_rolleyes:
(...and there's no existing wiring, fixtures, or switches where it's going in....)


----------



## nrp3 (Jan 24, 2009)

In the home improvement shows they just magically, effortlessly appear...


----------



## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

480sparky said:


> Then why do they come with a balancing kit?


The same reason that Chicago Tools gives you a spare set of brushes when you buy a circular saw.


----------



## cad99 (Feb 19, 2012)

99cents said:


> Seriously, somebody should re-invent the ceiling fan. Even the new ones look like they came out of the 70's. I have an interior designer who only allows them under protest, they're that ugly. She likes clients who can afford air conditioning and so do I.



Yes I hate them but never realized how gaga folks get over them till I was in the trade. When I sold my house put the cheaper hunters all over the place and it went fast. 


Living the dream one nightmare at a time.


----------

