How to Stop a Ceiling Fan Light From Wobbling

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Things You'll Need

  • Spray cleaner

  • Rag

  • Stepladder

  • Duct tape

  • Handful of pennies

Out-of-balance ceiling fans can wobble.

If the light on your ceiling fan is wobbling when the fan is on, and you’ve already checked to make sure the screws holding the light onto the fan aren’t just loose, then you’ve likely got an out-of-balance fan. This causes a small wobble in the fan unit, and that movement will be more pronounced on a light that hangs down below it. Balancing the fan is a matter of adding weight to one of the blades. Trial-and-error is the only way to figure out which blade and how much weight.

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Step 1

Turn off the fan. Climb your stepladder. Clean the tops of the blades with spray cleaner and a rag. Let it dry completely.

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Step 2

Climb down the ladder. Pull out a strip of duct tape 4 to 6 inches long and lay it sticky-side up on a table. Press five or six pennies onto the tape, grouped together.

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Step 3

Climb the ladder with the taped pennies. Set the strip of tape onto the top of one of the blades, a few inches from the end, sticky-side down, so the pennies are mounted onto the blade.

Step 4

Turn the fan on high speed. Assess its movement. If the fan and light still are wobbling, but less than before, stop the fan an add a few more pennies to the blade. If the wobbling has worsened, move the pennies to a different blade. Continue assessing the movement of the fan with trial-and-error until you find the blade and the number of pennies that balance it and prevent the wobbling.

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