How to Stop a Ceiling Fan From Wobbling

During the heat of the summer (and even in the winter) ceiling fans are a great way to ensure your home is comfortable. A ceiling fan will keep the air is a room circulating, ensuring the room feels cool in summer while in the winter it will force the hot air down to ground level from up near the ceiling where it will warm you in the winter. However, ceiling fans are mechanical and because of the constant movement of the blades, over time they can get out of alignment and start to wobble. If your ceiling fan is wobbling you don't want to ignore it, but you don't need to invest in a new one. Here's how you can go about stopping your ceiling fan from wobbling.

Things You'll Need

• Ladder
• Screwdriver
• Tape measure
• Fan balancing kit

Instructions

1. Start with the easiest and most obvious fix. Check to make sure the blades are all firmly attached and tighten all the attaching screws. Turn your fan on and see if you've fixed the problem, if not, on to the next step.

2. Turn off the breaker that provides power to your fan, then remove the canopy at the top of the fan (up by the ceiling) and check to make sure the junction box your fan is attached to is securely mounted. If the box is loose, tighten the screws attaching the box to the ceiling joists. Make sure all of the screws holding your fan to the junction box are tight, then turn the breaker back on and turn on your fan to check and see if you've fixed your wobble.

3. Still wobbling? You may have a bent blade. Measure from the top of a blade to the ceiling, and then move the fan by hand and measure the distance form the next blade to the ceiling. Repeat the process for all of the blades. The distance should be the same for all the blades--if it's not, one of the blades is bent or out of alignment. You can remove the bent blade and try to straighten it or possibly get a replacement blade from the manufacturer.

4. Alternatively, you can use a fan balancing kit to balance your fan blades and stop the wobble. Attach the clip-on weight to the middle of the bent blade and turn on the fan. It should help, but if the fan is still wobbling, try moving the weight towards the end of the blade and again turn the fan on.

5. Continue the trial-and-error approach moving the weight along the fan blade a few inches at a time until you find the spot where the fan isn't wobbling.

6. Remove the clip-on weight and attach one of the adhesive-backed weights to the back of the fan blade at the same position the clip-on was located.

Tips & Warnings

• A fan blade balancing kit is inexpensive and available at home and hardware stores. It's basically a group of small weights; one of them clips onto the blades while the others have adhesive on the back so they can be permanently attached.

• Ceiling fans are normally too heavy to be installed onto to a regular junction box (which is likely only nailed onto one side of a ceiling joist). There are special ceiling fan brackets or braces designed to hold the weight of the fan and they will ensure the weight of your ceiling fan doesn't start to pull the junction box off the joist.