The Big Fan Swap

     During the summer months our living room was often the warmest part of the home so a few years back we decided to install a ceiling fan. At first the unit seemed to work out fine, but as the following summer rolled in that sentiment quickly changed.

We soon discovered that not only was the fan too small but in order to feel the airflow you had to be within close proximity or directly underneath the unit. The other factor, although not as important, was the color. No matter how much we wiped the blades they never seemed to look clean.

Before buying the ceiling fan we had researched units that would work well in 18' x18' spaces the range we were able to come up with was between 52 and 58-inches. Assuming the 52-inch would be enough we opted for the smaller and least expensive unit, partly due to budget constraints at the time.

After dealing with the undersized fan long enough, it was time to fix this mistake, once and for all. Going over our options this time around we focused on the larger ceiling fans, but while we were looking at our options two things stuck out at us. First of all 58-inch ceiling fans weren't very common which meant not a lot of choices.

The second thing was that since the 58-inch wasn't very common it came with a premium price tag.
Irritated, we decided to look at the 60-inch units since there were plenty of those. Right away we saw that the differences were obvious not only did the 60-inch come in slightly more efficient than the 58 but because we didn't need a light kit the unit was actually much cheaper.

 The choice was made, the 60-inch Monte Carlo in Roman Bronze would be our replacement.

Fast forward to this past weekend, the day the unit was delivered, it went up. Installation was a breeze. Since we already had an existing unit in place there was no need for any new wiring, switching or fan bracing. The process began by laying out all the parts for inventory.

Once all the parts were accounted for the circuit breaker went OFF and the old unit came down. With the old unit now out of the way the base mount for the new fan went up.

Quick note: Before installing any ceiling fan the junction box that supports the new unit must be secured in a way that will handle the weight of the fan. In most cases a ceiling fan brace is used. Never rely on the standard junction box that is nailed into the side of the ceiling joists.

The new ceiling fan gave us two options for installing, the flush mount which allow the units base to hug up to the ceiling, or hang slightly lower with the use of a down rod. To keep things simple we went with the flush mount.

Before the fan could be put up the canopy first needed to be attached to the top of the fan assembly. That meant removing three pan head screws where the canopy would sit and adding a rubber vibration gasket between the two pieces before securing the canopy in place.

Once the canopy was ready the next step was to wire the fan assembly to the wires in the ceiling junction box. Most fan assemblies come prewired with long wires coming out of the top of the assembly this is just in case your install requires a long down rod for example in the case of a vaulted ceiling. Since our unit was being flush mounted the wires back so to allow about 12 or so inches.

As I mentioned before a light kit was not needed so the light wire was capped at the top of the assembly and the remaining wires were spliced to the wires in the ceiling junction box. Once that was done the assembly was attached to the mount.

Next up was the fan blades. Before each could be installed the blades needed to be attached to individual brackets, with the help from my little assistant we attached the pieces together and put them aside.

Now to install the blades. Ceiling fans normally come with motor stabilizers,
basically a square rubber washers that sits in between the motor and fan assembly. Before each fan blade can be installed a couple of the stabilizers need to be removed. As each blade goes up another one comes out.

I've found that if you remove one stabilizer at a time it makes it easier to install the blades because you don't have to keep the motor from spinning.

Once the fan blades were all in the switch housing was the last thing to go on. This is the bottom piece of the fan assembly with the fan speed chain coming out of it. If the ceiling fan has a light kit this is where it would be installed in place of the switch housing.

With the new ceiling fan now completely installed it was time to test our work. Circuit Breaker back ON, I turned the wall switch ON and pulled the ceiling fan chain.

Quick note: In most instances, a new ceiling fan leaves the manufacturer in the OFF position. Once the new unit is installed just give the fan chain a single pull and do the same for the light, if it applies. If the unit has a remote simply follow the manufacturer instructions to sync the remote to the remote module.

With the fan now fully running I left the unit at its highest speed so that we could now control the unit with our Ceiling Fan wall switch.

This particular ceiling fan took just over an hour to install if this had been a completely new install the project would of taken much longer. How much longer would of course depend on the location, switching availability, type of switching and accessibility.

Key factors to know before installing a ceiling fan:

1) Make sure the placement of the fan is such that the blades are at least 18 inches from any wall or obstruction. The ideal place is center of the room but not everyone's needs are the same so always measure.

2) In the case of a vaulted ceiling, make sure the fan is not installed on a pitch more than 30 degrees.

3) Switching can be a little overwhelming so to help simplify some common options: wall switch controlled, fan controlled, remote controlled or any combination of the three.

4) I know I've mentioned it already but I cant stress this enough, a ceiling fan brace is very important and should be a apart of every fan install. Relying on a plastic box that is nailed to the side of the ceiling joist should never be an option.

Well I hope you've enjoyed this article if you have any questions or comments feel free to share them below. Look for my next article where I share my experiences on balancing a ceiling fan. Until next time.