Changing a 52 inch fan blade to 42 inches


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Old 09-20-17, 10:19 PM
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Changing a 52 inch fan blade to 42 inches

Hi, so I have a ceiling fan in my room and I want to change the fan blades from 52 inches to 42 inches. Will this work? The 42 inch blades don’t match the blade arm but will drilling holes to match the blade arm work?
 
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Old 09-20-17, 10:21 PM
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Sounds like a good project. You can tells us how it works out.
 
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Old 09-21-17, 01:45 AM
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42 from 52 is a huge jump. You may want to at least consider 48's. With the smaller blades, the fan will probably run faster at the low speed and may be noisier.

You might also consider new arms with the new blades.
 
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Old 09-21-17, 01:55 AM
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Balance is the key, if you modify the blades by re drilling and they are not matched your likely to get some wobble or noise!
 
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Old 09-21-17, 06:13 AM
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Well I have a 52 inch Hampton Bay Campbell Celing fan and the blade arms have these rubberized grommet on the blade arms so the fan wont make much noise. Also the fan is flushmounted to the ceiling.
 
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Old 09-23-17, 04:42 PM
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Hi, guys, just a quick update here. I got my 42-inch ceiling fan blades, and I drilled new holes into the new blades so they would fit my existing blade arm. After that, I put the ceiling fan blades in and securely tighten the screws. I turned on the fan on Low and NO wobble whatsoever, however, I noticed that they were spinning a little faster. Tried Medium and it became a little faster. I then tried High, and the fan was wiggling just a little but not so extreme. The Blades were spinning very rapidly on high, and I got a big breeze, and I can feel it all around the room now. All in all, it was a success It does work just fine. Another thing. It was not noisy at all. Just wind you can hear.
 
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Old 09-23-17, 11:57 PM
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Glad it worked out. Being careful with the drilling was probably key.
 
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Old 09-24-17, 09:52 PM
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RE: Gunguy45,

Yeah, it works great! I made sure that I had the right size drill bit and aligned the current blade holes to the new fan blades and carefully mark my holes in the correct spot. Either way, I like to thank everyone for giving me some suggestions.

Thank You all!
 
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Old 09-26-17, 11:40 AM
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A larger blade will move more air than smaller blades. What you are saying does not make sense.
 
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Old 10-04-17, 05:18 AM
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What does not make sense?

In this example the original larger blades moved so much air. The newer smaller blades were spinning faster and could well have moved more air past them.

It would take a lot of physics to prove which set of blades moved more molecules of air per minute because there are pressure differences that compressed the air as the air passed the blades. I will not get involved with that detail of discussion.
 
 

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