Wrapping Up 2014 - Part Three Of Four And The Beginning Of The New Year
12/15/2014
Fan one - Evolution Lighting "Catalina Island Collection." I'm not exactly sure what the story is with this one. I'm guessing that the previous owners used it for a short time, however took it down due to its cheapness? Whatever the case, it is a piece of garbage. Not only is the motor tiny (being a 135X12), its flimsy, hums and hardly blows any air. I guess that isn't a surprise though, since these were sold at Wal-Mart. The label on the fan says "SienHua Electric Fan Company" however it also mentions SMC. My guess is that the two companies either collaborated, or are connected to each other in some way. Whatever the case though, the result was quite dismal! Anyways, below are some pictures of the fan.
Box:
Motor:
Wattage limiter. I've only ever seen this kind once in the past, and that was in a Hampton Bay Middleton. Before:
After:
Labels (pictures from another Evolution Lighting fan I received later on):
Fan installed
Video:
Fan on display:
Fan two - Hunter Studio Series (early 2000's version). Although not the cool 90's version that we're all used to seeing, I was still somewhat excited about this one due to the lack of Hunter fans at the ReStore fan at that time. This was a 2004 version that features an Installers Choice mounting system, and overall high quality (as opposed to the current version I'm sure). Just to do something a little bit different, I decided not to add a light kit to this fan or flip the blades over to the walnut side as opposed to medium oak (Jean, I hope you're proud
). As per usual, below are the pictures.
Fan itself:
Labels:
Motor. 172X14 I believe:
The wrong screws used to secure the switch housing's mounting plate:
Dummy connecters inside the switch housing for use without light kit:
Fan installed:
"Fan three" - Quality Craft GE-vent. Technically, this doesn't count as this fan was actually a part of my collection that didn't even come from the ReStore, however I decided to include it as a bonus. Though there might not be a whole lot to say about this fan (since it's just a re-branded Air Cool GE-vent with quality and performance that aren't anything above average) it does look quite nice with the stencil blades. I actually decided to add a light kit to this, to ensure it would sell as fast as possible. Here are some picture of it.
Fan itself:
Labels:
Motor. 153X10, which is smaller than I was expecting:
A video of it I took
years ago:
Both the Quality Craft GE-vent and the Hunter Studio Series on display:
12/20/2014
Fan one - Hampton Bay Larson. This is a fairly new model to Canada, only being introduced in late 2013. It doesn't seem like it has become particularly popular (this is the only one I've seen in person), however somebody bought and returned this one. It appears as if the problem was the lack of a mounting bracket, as I couldn't find the original anywhere. The fan is made by Air Cool, so the quality isn't bad, though it certainly isn't what I would consider outstanding. Below are pictures of the fan.
The fan exactly how it came in:
Original light kit:
-
- My modification (I apologize for the less then perfect picture - I'll admit it was taken in a rush):
- Motor (your typical 153X18):
- Can anybody here understand this?
The mounting bracket I used:
12/23/2014
Fan one - Kendal Lighting Esprit. Interestingly enough, I remember seeing these (yes there was a pair, however I picked them up at different times) on Kijiji about a month earlier. Clearly, the seller got impatient, so they dropped them off at the ReStore. Unfortunately, they choose the worst possible time to do so, as it was pouring rain outside. When Ray handed one of the fans to me, a bunch of water came pouring out of the motor housing! I noticed that the blades looked badly warped, however I was up for a challenge, so I took it home anyway. Below are some picture some pictures of it.
The fan exactly how it came in:
The motor (what was accessible anyways). According to the label, it was a 153X22 which isn't actually half bad:
Rust:
Fan installed. As you might be able to see, the blades are
badly warped!
After about 10-minues of attempting to straighten them by hand, I simply gave up and scrapped the fan. As much of a shame as it might same, I wouldn’t want to sell anybody a fan that was going to:
- Wobble excessively.
- Blow a minimal amount of air.
- Look odd.
12/27/2014
Fan one - Kendal Lighting Esprit (second fan). As with the last Espirt I worked on, this one did suffer from exposure to the rain, however it faired far better than the last one. The blades weren’t warped as much, and there was no rust on it. However, the original globe was cracked, and unscrewing it by hand proved impossible. So I got a bit "rough" with it and carefully broke it over a garbage bag (to catch the pieces). I used the globe from the first Esprit as a replacement. Below are the pictures.
The remains of the old globe:
Fan installed:
12/29/2014
Fan one - Hampton Bay Carriage House II. Apart from new in box donations from Home Depots, the ReStore hasn't actually received a whole lot of these. This was a polished brass version, which I had never worked with previously. Although these aren't great fans (the brackets are prone to bending being King Of Fans-made, the motors are small and the motor housing can potentially grind if you don't level it properly), they do hold sentimental value to me. I first remember seeing one of these in my 2005 Home Depot fan catalog, which I still have to this day. Below...you know the rest!
Label and motor. Again, this is your typical 153X18. You'd think they would at least put a 153X20 due to the wide blades...
Fan installed:
Video:
Fan two - Hampton Bay Raleigh III. Believe it or not, I actually quite like these fans. Working with one of these in the past (in May 2014), I'd have to say that they're actually quite good for Hampton Bay. The motor size is decent, the metal quality is surprisingly high, and it pushes a lot of air for a modern fan of its size. The interesting part about this fan is the precise combination of a short downrod, the lack of globes and the bleached oak side of the blades facing down. The reason this means anything is due to a real estate listing I saw about two years ago showing three Hampton Bay Raleigh IIIs installed with this exact combination. Coincidence? Maybe, however I doubt it. Anyways, underneath this pile of words are some photographs of this magnificent fan (yes I’m trying to be unique with that phrase)!
How the fan came in:
Apparently the installer was just too cool for set screws!
Fan installed:
Video (from back in May 2013):
Fan two - CEI builder fan. I've had one of these in the past, and I'm still at a loss as to what brand these were actually sold as. It might have been an early Home Depot Canada "Special Buy," however I doubt it as they aren't marked as Hampton Bay. Whatever the case though, they don't seem to particularly common fans, nor high quality. Scroll down with the mouse wheel to view this wonder...
Unfortunately, it seems as if some pictures of the fan didn't save
At least these did though:
When I was taking the blades off, I noticed that there was something rattling around in the motor. I spun it by hand, and discovered it made a loud clicking noise like something almost as if something was scraping against the inside of the motor. So I took it apart and found this:
It wasn't hard to fix though:
Here's a video I made of another CEI builder fan I received earlier that year:
Fan on display:
Happy New Year VCF (Yes, I know it’s March…better late then never though) Beginning 2015, we have the following.
01/02/20
15Fan one – Canarm Château. Though not a particularly exciting fan to begin 2015, it was kicking around the Fan Room for what was about two months (at the time), so I took pity on it. It’s exactly what I expected - cheap and uninspiring, however it does the job I guess. There isn't much to say about it, though it is worth mentioning that this is the
Château and
not the Château II (four-blade version of this fan). Look underneath for some images...
Free bulbs!
Labels:
Motor - 153X15:
Fan installed:
01/09/2015
Fan one – Canarm Twister. Yes, another cheapo, albeit it a slightly more interesting one. These are technically childhood fans for me, as I remember seeing them in the 2010 Home Hardware catalog, however Home Depot has always held more nostalgic value. The previous owners were kind enough to include the original box with this. Ironically enough though, the instructions were nowhere to be found. Below are some pictures of this award-winning Canarm product.
The box - both English and French:
Oliver seems to approve:
How the fan was packed:
The first thing I was greeted with when opening the switch housing was a wire breaking off the speed pull chain...true quality!
Wiring inside the switch housing:
Motor (153X10) and labels:
Fan installed:
Fan on display:
Video:
01/10/2015
Fan one - Hampton Bay Windward III. This is probably one of the weirdest packing jobs I’ve ever seen - the fan literally came in some crappy plastic bag! This continued as somewhat of a brief trend later on in January as you’ll soon see. Of course, I used a box to ensure everything would stay intact during transport. In general Windward IIIs are quite uncommon in Canada, and I’ve only ever seen one for sale in my area as opposed to quite a few Windward IIs over the years. This would have been an early Windward III, being that it’s dated 2005. It was made by King Of Fans in their Taiwanese factory, and was categorized under the "E77491" UL listing.
When I got the fan home, I unpacked everything and noticed the fluorescent circline tube for the down-light was nowhere to be found. The label on the ballast stated that you can use up to a "40-watt fluorescent circline tube." Since I know one of our family friend’s has fixtures that take circline tubes, I called him up and asked if I could have a tube that was near EOL (end of life) to put in the fan. Sure enough, he had four Philips tubes that he was looking to recycle. Sadly, neither of the two sizes he provided fit the fan
After a lot of thinking, I decided to go “ultra green” and use a spare LED module I had taken out of a Hampton Bay Cobram I was planning to scarp. Sure enough it fit, however the story doesn't end here. Upon testing the fan, I discovered the remote control receiver was fried (if you turned on the fan, all the functionality you'd get was a brief flash of the up-light and down-light). So, I replaced it with a Hunter universal remote control system. Although directional control separate operation of the up-light and were lost, it worked and that's what's most important. Pictures down below...
Fan (after unpacking):
About a year ago, Home Depot donated a ton of discontinued Philips fluorescent bulbs to the ReStore. Part of this donation were some four-pin spiral bulbs - the exact type used in the Windward III's up-light. Since nobody was buying this specific type of bulb, I grabbed two and re-lamped the up-light. Ironically enough, a ton of new in box 40-watt fluorescent circline tubes (the exact size and wattage I needed) also ended up at the ReStore, except the fan had already been sold about a month earlier! Let's just say I was less than pleased when I saw that
Motor - 172X20:
Fan prior to installation. Although I'm never one to install blades prior to hanging a fan on the ceiling, I was left with no choice here - brilliant Hampton Bay!
Fan installed:
Cool effect from the up-light:
Fan on display:
01/12/2015
Fan one - Canarm hugger. Yup, this was the second fan packed in a bag! Since I ended up scarapping it due to a missing mounting bracket, I didn't bother taking more than one picture:
More to come in Part Four!