If your ceiling fan is wobbly and is always shaking around like a wild washing machine, it probably needs balancing. Perhaps there’s a problem with the motor of your fan, or you just need to tighten some of the screws. Most of the time, though, the cause of a wobbling fan is imbalance in the fan blades or blade holder. In other cases, this is caused by accumulation of dust on the blades or the blade holder. Here are some tips to prevent your fan from wobbling.
- Check if the blades are all tightly screwed into the blade holder. At the same time, make sure if the blade holder is also firmly attached to the fan’s flywheel. Clean the fan blade with a household cleaning solution and a piece of wet dust cloth. After cleaning, let the fan blades dry before turning the fan on, and check if it still wobbling. If the wobbling still continues, it’s highly possible there’s a misalignment with one of the blades.
- Use a yardstick to measure the blade alignment. Measure the distance from the edge of the blade to the ceiling, then take note of each distance that you measured. Make sure that each blade is measured at the same part of the blade. If the blade is still misaligned, try to bend the blade holder up or down until each blade is the same distance to the ceiling.
- Try turning the fan on to check if it is still wobbling or running smoothly. If it is still wobbling, the last resort would be to buy a blade balancing kit from the hardware store or your local home center. It will help balance the fan blades, and if successful, the wobbling problem would be solved.
The balancing kit comes with several different weights, and is often cheap and affordable. To use a balancing kit, check the speed of the ceiling fan by turning it on. Check the fan speed and observe where you get the most wobble. Turn off the fan and attach the clip-on weight to any blade. Note that it must be halfway down. Turn the fan back on and check if it still wobbling.
If wobbling persists, try to adjust the clip-on weight by moving it on the other side of the blade until you get the best results. After determining the problem, move the clip on-weight up and down the length of that blade, restarting the fan each time you move, until you locate the spot where the wobbling exists. Once you find the perfect spot, place one of the sticky weights on the back side of the blade where you put the clip on-weight. After putting some stick-on weights, finally remove the clip-on weight and turn on your fan and that’s it. You’re done.
A wobbling ceiling fan could indicate a minor problem, if it’s just a result of dust or a misaligned blade. However, this can be frustrating, especially if it makes noise. The problem might even be serious enough to cause the fan’s ceiling support to fail, which would send the fan falling from the ceiling. Balancing your ceiling fan would be a good preventive measure against such dangers.
