My ceiling fan was making a clicking noise so I checked all the screws on the blades and there were a few loose. While I was working on it anyway, I decided to take the blades down and give them a cleaning. I took the light globes down and cleaned them too. The blades do not appear to be warped. When I assembled it all back together, there was a buzzing/vibrating noise. The fan turns ok (no hesitations) and there is a definite wobble but the noise is concerning. The noise is there regardless of fan speed and is still there even if power is turned off. So, not electrical and likely mechanical. Did I push dust into the motor and now have a motor issue? I don’t want to spend a bunch of time trying to balance the wobble if the motor is shot and I have to replace it anyway. There is no oil hole and the manual says that, “The motor has permanently lubricated bearings. There is no need to oil.” The fan did not make this noise before I cleaned it. It is a 20 year old Harbor Breeze model CHT52WW5LK. I don’t want to replace it if I don’t have to because it is in the bedroom of a high risk individual so I can’t have anyone in to install it and I’m not capable of doing it myself.

Here is a link to a video of the noise. The video isn’t the greatest but it is kind of like the buzzing of an insect caught in there. (It’s not that though.) Did I kill it by cleaning it?https://youtu.be/lNOvFOzK7Yo

 

It's worth balancing the blades. That may reduce the noise. I may even quite down on itself.

 

It is extremely rare for a ceiling fan motor to make noise with no power.
Can't hear anything out of the ordinary on the video.

A clicking noise in ceiling fan is usually something falling down into the motor. Pieces of the ceiling.... plaster....sheetrock.... etc. can fall into the motor.

 

Hi, thanks for the response. It is hanging from a pole so I don’t think anything could have fallen in. Is it safe to remove the blades and run the fan to see if it makes the noise without the blades? All the blades have washers and I still makes the noise t a slow speed. The sound didn’t start until after I removed the blades to clean them and then put them back.

 

My guess is you have a blade balance issue. Most likely cause is you did not return the blade to the original position. If there are 3 blades, there is 6 combinations to try. This assumes during cleaning you didn't lose or move any balancing weights.

 

The noise is there while coasting down.

 

Hi, there are 5 blades so 120 combinations. Do the combinations really matter or can I just try to balance it out? I’ve actually unsuccessfully tried but can keep trying. The noise is there when slowing down, yes.

 

The motor is good. You already stated issue started after removing and reattaching the blades. Put the blades back in there original position and the issue will go away. There is no shortcut. Also balancing is speed related so if you operate the fan at multiple speeds, the balance is a compromise.