Noop
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Posts: 14
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Post by Noop on Feb 18, 2015 4:10:16 GMT -5
I'v got a good question. Why does my ceiling fan hum when it is turned off by the pullchain? The pullchain switches are melted and cracked. Capacitor gets hot when in the off position. Also when I hold the capacitor is feels like it's vibrating, especially on high. The fan also seems to hum excessively on all speeds. I was going to test the amperage draw in the video but I fried my bran spanking new multimeter while trying to do just that, so I will post the amperage draw later on when I get a new multimeter. Here's the video of the fan- www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj3FisbVSzo&feature=youtu.be Any thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated! Btw it is a Carnarm 52" something or other from I believe 1988. Also another random question concerning the fan, Where could I buy a speed pullchain switch that will work for it? I bought 2 form ace hardeware and 1 from homehardware and they all make the fan not work at all lol it would just hum on all speeds. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2015 11:33:40 GMT -5
Is it possible the hummy pullchain was replaced? It's wired wrong one way or another if it does ANYTHING on off.
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Noop
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Posts: 14
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Post by Noop on Feb 18, 2015 17:02:15 GMT -5
That could be a possibility, although it seems original because the little pullchain guide thing was wore down slightly where the chain rides. I wonder If I should try switching the line wire with the other wires and see what happens? hopefully the switch doesn't break in the process lol it's starting to get tired of me yanking the wires out of it.
Thanks for the input!
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Post by Jordan U on Feb 19, 2015 13:09:24 GMT -5
My first suggestion would be to measure the power consumption.
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Noop
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by Noop on Feb 19, 2015 20:42:48 GMT -5
I cant wait to test it. It's gotta be pulling more amps than it should be with all the humming it's doing. I'm starting to lose all hope for this fan because I bet the motor also gets hot when in the off position, thus probably wrecked the windings a bit causing it to hum excessively. But I am getting ahead of myself here, maybe by some chance it's purely just the incorrect wiring making it hum loud.
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Post by Max C. on Feb 20, 2015 20:34:03 GMT -5
Welcome to VCF! Glad to have you on here.
Out of hundreds of fans that I've worked on for the ReStore so far, I can say that there were any with such messed-up wiring!
First of all, I should mention that nothing electrical fails without reason. Finding out why the fan ended up this way in the first place might be a good starting ground. The humming on high and medium could be attributed to improper capacitor values (if it was in fact a replacement, that is). Dan is right when he says that the fan shouldn't do anything in the off position. My guess is that the speed switch went bad, and has an internal short which is causing power to flow even when turned "off." Honestly, I'd say the best thing to do at this point is take out all of "guts" from the switch housing (leaving only the fan's lead wires and the wires going to the motor windings) and install another speed selection/forward and reverse circuit from a junk fan with good wiring.
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Post by Jordan U on Feb 21, 2015 11:27:57 GMT -5
I cant wait to test it. It's gotta be pulling more amps than it should be with all the humming it's doing. I'm starting to lose all hope for this fan because I bet the motor also gets hot when in the off position, thus probably wrecked the windings a bit causing it to hum excessively. But I am getting ahead of myself here, maybe by some chance it's purely just the incorrect wiring making it hum loud. I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that its ruined just yet. The fact that it still runs gives it plenty of hope. Test it and go from there... I'd say the best thing to do at this point is take out all of "guts" from the switch housing (leaving only the fan's lead wires and the wires going to the motor windings) and install another speed selection/forward and reverse circuit from a junk fan with good wiring. Since the existing wiring is in such horrible condition, a full rewire is probably not a bad idea. |
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Noop
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by Noop on Feb 21, 2015 14:23:24 GMT -5
Welcome to VCF! Glad to have you on here. Out of hundreds of fans that I've worked on for the ReStore so far, I can say that there were any with such messed-up wiring! First of all, I should mention that nothing electrical fails without reason. Finding out why the fan ended up this way in the first place might be a good starting ground. The humming on high and medium could be attributed to improper capacitor values (if it was in fact a replacement, that is). Dan is right when he says that the fan shouldn't do anything in the off position. My guess is that the speed switch went bad, and has an internal short which is causing power to flow even when turned "off." Honestly, I'd say the best thing to do at this point is take out all of "guts" from the switch housing (leaving only the fan's lead wires and the wires going to the motor windings) and install another speed selection/forward and reverse circuit from a junk fan with good wiring. Thanks for the input! To be honest the wiring doesn't seem all that bad other than the 2 purple wires on the reverse switch. They don't seem stiff or crack when I bend them. But I guess considering the stress they went through it would probably be a good idea to change them along with the switches. When I go to the city I'm going to check out Habitat for ceiling fans and parts. I have never been to Habitat before lol I hope the Habitat in Lloydminster has lots of ceiling fans and stuff. The lady at Ace hardeware suggested that I go there for ceiling fan parts. Man It must be awesome to be able to work at Habitat and get the first pick of all the fans that come in! |
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Post by Jordan U on Feb 21, 2015 15:11:36 GMT -5
Habitat is a hit or miss. Some of them are great, others are just outrageously overpriced and full of junk. I've never been to one either, but I would like to one day.
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Noop
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by Noop on Feb 21, 2015 17:35:36 GMT -5
Habitat is a hit or miss. Some of them are great, others are just outrageously overpriced and full of junk. I've never been to one either, but I would like to one day. I'm willing to bet that the habitat in Lloyd is going to be like that, because that's my kind of luck lol. I'v been looking up on how to measure current, and I realized that I was doing it very wrong lol but my digital multimeter only has dcamps  My luck strikes again. But I may be able to measure it with my old school multimeter because according to a site I was looking at, it doesn't matter with an analogue meter. Lets hope my luck treats me well this time. Hopefully I don't get in trouble for talking about stuff that is off topic lol. |
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Post by Jordan U on Feb 21, 2015 19:57:24 GMT -5
If you create the thread, people usually don't get too upset about going off topic. When you do that on other people's threads, then sometimes they get upset. I'd strongly suggest you get a Kill-A-Watt meter, you can get it pretty cheap on Amazon (yes, they sell more than books! lol) and it will do everything you need for testing the fan.
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Noop
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by Noop on Feb 21, 2015 20:09:35 GMT -5
If you create the thread, people usually don't get too upset about going off topic. When you do that on other people's threads, then sometimes they get upset. I'd strongly suggest you get a Kill-A-Watt meter, you can get it pretty cheap on Amazon (yes, they sell more than books! lol) and it will do everything you need for testing the fan. I think i'm going to have to find a kill-A-Watt meter because I tried the test procedure again the right way with no luck. On the bright side I didn't fry my multimeter! it was just a faulty battery. I was sure I wrecked it with all the sparks that shot out of the outlet. |
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Post by Jordan U on Feb 21, 2015 21:04:57 GMT -5
The Kill-A-Watt meter can be used for so many things, its definitely worth getting.
When you've got sparks flying, you usually did it wrong! At least nothing got damaged
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My luck strikes again. But I may be able to measure it with my old school multimeter because according to a site I was looking at, it doesn't matter with an analogue meter. Lets hope my luck treats me well this time.