If your ceiling fan quits working, should you buy a new fan or just repair the old one? Well you must compare the cost for repair verses the cos...
If your ceiling fan quits working, should you buy a new fan or just repair the old one? Well you must compare the cost for repair verses the cost of a new ceiling fan. When making this decision, you should always consider the quality of what you have and what you would buy. Let us suppose that your old fan originally cost $400.00 and the replacement parts would cost $45.00. But you go shopping and find a new fan, that looks real nice, which only cost $100.00. The choice will be easy if looks is the only consideration. But if efficiency is a consideration, be careful. The size and power of the fan motor is very important. Blade pitch, blade length, and motor RPM will determine how much air the fan will move. As the power of the motor drops, so do all three of the above. So in general, expect the $400.00 fan to move much more air than the $100.00 fan. Now if you can do the repair yourself, repairing the old fan might be the best option. The only cost involved would be for parts. But, how do you determine what part you need? For some this would be an easy task, but for others it might be a problem. If this is a problem, check out the link at the bottom of this article. They will help you with troubleshooting, do free testing and they sell the ceiling fan parts.
What are the most common problems with a ceiling fan? There are three basic fan operating systems. They are: 1) Wall Control, 2) Remote Control, 3) Pull Chain.
With the wall control, the most common problem will be the wall switch or the PC board in the fan. Normally it will only be one of the two parts.
With the remote control, the most common problem will be the hand held remote, the receiver module, or the reversing module. Normally it will only be one of these parts. Occasionally it will be more than one. You can buy and see pictures of these parts at www.ceilingfanremotecontrols.com
With the pull chain, the most common problem will be the chain switch, the capacitor, or the reversing switch. If the ceiling fan will only run in one direction, then the reversing switch is most likely the problem. If the chain is still in the switch and the chain will pull, the switch is probably OK. If the ceiling fan only works on one or two speeds, just runs very slow, or just stopped working, then the capacitor is most likely the problem. Normally a fan will have one or two capacitors. A two wire capacitor is usually used to start the motor. A three or four wire capacitor is usually used to control the different speeds. The five and six wire capacitor will be used as a combination of start and speed. A visual inspection will usually show evidence of a defect. It might be melted or you will see a small bubble or crack on one side. But in some cases the capacitor can look perfect and still be bad. You can buy ceiling fan capacitors at www.ceilingfancapacitors.net
www.eceilingfanparts.com will help you troubleshoot your problem and they sell ceiling fan parts.
