wbw
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by wbw on Jul 20, 2018 20:24:13 GMT -5
Hello! I just got a call from my grandmother. She has two brass Hunter Originals on 24” downrods in her great room. They are either late 80s or early 90s models. (I’m not there right now so I can’t look to see the exact year). She called me to tell me that one of them has suddenly stopped working on low speed. Medium and high are fine. My first thought is that the switch might be bad. I wanted to see what y’all’s thoughts were before I ordered one. The fans are exclusively controlled by the chains, there is no wall switch. She leaves them running on medium 24/7 for the dogs but turns them down to low when she goes in there to watch TV. They are well maintained (we know to check the oil, etc). Before I order the switch, does anyone know another reason this might be happening? I don’t want to waste money and then find out that’s not what it needed. Thanks!
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Post by Jonathan A. on Jul 21, 2018 7:00:03 GMT -5
Time the spin down on low and off, and see if low spindown is any longer.
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Post by rob3rt on Jul 23, 2018 8:28:41 GMT -5
I am still learning about ceiling fans, and I have not researched Hunter Originals, but most 3-speed ceiling fans use capacitors to control speed. The switch controls which of several capacitors are connected to the motor. In my experience, capacitors are very long-lived and dependable, but switches wear out. If the problem is not bearing friction as Jonathan A. has suggested, I would try replacing the switch.
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Post by Jordan U on Aug 8, 2018 14:01:28 GMT -5
If you understand the wiring of the switch, they're pretty easy to test with a basic multi-meter..
Time the spin down on low and off, and see if low spindown is any longer. That doesn't make a single iota of sense.. Off doesn't move the fan, and low is broken so it's also not moving.. No spin down time for either setting...............
Even if low was working that still doesn't make sense because there's no spin down time for off, so obviously low is longer in every conceivable case..
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Post by Jonathan A. on Aug 8, 2018 17:52:00 GMT -5
If you understand the wiring of the switch, they're pretty easy to test with a basic multi-meter..
Time the spin down on low and off, and see if low spindown is any longer. That doesn't make a single iota of sense.. Off doesn't move the fan, and low is broken so it's also not moving.. No spin down time for either setting...............
Even if low was working that still doesn't make sense because there's no spin down time for off, so obviously low is longer in every conceivable case.. If you compare the spin down between low and off, and low spin down is longer, then low does have power. If they are exactly the same, low has no power.
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