I have two Broan ceiling fans in one room of the house we bought last year, and one of them has a pretty bad wobble when it gets up to speed. Thinking it was a balance problem with the blades, I removed and weighed them, and found out that one of the blades was a couple ounces lighter than the others. So, I added some add'l weight to the one blade (taped a couple pennies to it) to match the others, reinstalled the blades, but alas, it still wobbled. So I removed the blades again and turned the fan on, and discovered that there was still a noticeable wobble being generated by the motor without the blades attached.

Any ideas what to look for as far as the motor is concerned? I haven't removed or disassembled the motor yet. Oh yeah, the fan is also suspended by about a 4 foot down tube.

Thanks.

 

I don't have any good ideas other than to live with the wobble or replace the fan.

 

Maybe your motor maybe causing the wobble. You may also want to make sure your ceiling fan is tightened good as well.

 

Fan Wobble
Ceiling fans are supposed to whoosh and whir, not wobble – quality fans properly installed should never wobble. Hunter ceiling fans ®’ 6-ply, real wood blades are carefully constructed and weighed to within 1 gram of each other, and the heavy blade holders are tracked to a precise degree, which ensures smooth running and no wobble.

Why Ceiling Fans Wobble

1. Fan blades that are poorly sealed, or made from cheap materials, can warp when moisture gets inside the blades.

2. Fan blades that are not carefully balanced in weighted sets are highly likely to wobble, as is the case if not all the blade brackets are mounted with the exact same angle.

3. Poorly constructed rotors can easily become unbalanced, causing the fan to wobble.

One more thing…

It might not seem likely, but longer downrods actually help stabilize ceiling fans and reduce the potential for wobble (think of a grandfather clock pendulum and its slow, heavy swing versus a smaller clock pendulum with a fast, unsteady swing). Both the weight of the ceiling fan, and the length of the downrod used to suspend the ceiling fan contribute to stability. Hunter ceiling fans ® use 3/4" diameter extension downrods, most other fans use 1/2" downrods.

 

Thanks, PCdoc. Since I still get wobble with blades and brackets removed, it must be something in the motor assembly. We've only been in the house 1-1/2 years, and the wobble was there when we bought the house, so it's not anything that has happened since we've been here. Of course, it's also possible that the one fan has been out of balance from the git-go (even though the other runs just fine).

You mention that rotors can "become unbalanced." Any input on how that could happen?

 

Rotor - The part of the fan's motor that turns. I'm not excatly sure how a Rotor can become unbalanced.

 

Is the fan connected to a fan approved electric box? When I bought my house and started replacing old fans that wobbled, I noticed none of them where on a fan approved electric box. On one fan I kept, I replaced the box when I rewired the fan (put fan and light on seperate switches) and the wobble went away.