I'm just about ready to perform my annual ceiling fan maintenance.

The biggest problem I have is the balancing weights keep falling off the blades. I have solved the problem with the weights corroding by replacing them with coins. I have tried the thick foam like tape that is sticky on both sides and have tried rubber cement to keep the coins stuck in place but eventually both have failed. I don't want to use some adhesive that will mess up the top of the fan blades. Has anyone seen any adhesive gels in Thailand? Worst case I guess I could cut up some of those 3M command strips.

I placed adhesive dots on the blades next to the coins, color coded for coin type, so I don't have to figure out the balancing all over again and so far these dots have been staying in place.

As far as other maintenance goes I always clean the blades and use compressed air to try and clean the motors as best I can. Some friends tell me that these motors need lubrication and some say they don't. I don't see any obvious spots to apply lubrication. Anyone have any suggestions on that?

Slightly off topic but not that much: We have wall switches for each ceiling fan that have a white plate with a rocker switch for the lights and a vertical slider with 4 positions for the fans. The little plastic handle on the slider has "Compass East" printed on it. The problem we have is that these handles keep breaking off. Fixing them by buying a whole new switch for 300 Baht seems excessive but that is what have been doing every few years. Any idea on what one could use to replace these handles? The slider just has a little horizontal blade protruding that is about a half a cm wide.

Anything that I am missing here as far as maintenance goes?

Grin

Edited May 2, 201511 yr by grin

I've never had a ceiling fan weight (a purpose-built weight specifically for balancing fan blades) corrode or come loose. The adhesive, though, on those weights will mar the upper surface of a fan blade, but unless you are considering flipping the blades over, why would that be a concern?

I tried using satang coins once. They were like bullets flying off the fan!

The fan blade balancing kits I have were bought in the USA, as I couldn't seem to find them here.

If you have metal blades on your fans then you must not only clean them but insure that the rust is removed by lightly sanding them

I live near the sea in Na Jomtien and I am amazed at how much corrosion I get on the metal blades of my ceiling fans. In hindsight, I should have gotten fans with wooden blades so that this corrosion would not be such a problem

I assume the blades on my ceiling fans are made of some kind of compressed or particle board. Marring the coating on the top could well lead to moisture getting into the blades, mold growing, or whatever. I usually find a few blades that are loose and a concern has been that continual tightening may degrade the areas around the holes for the bolts. I was thinking of adding some thin washers around these bolts.

Seems like it would be much nicer to have some sort of hardwood blades.

I travel to the US quite a bit so I will have to buy a kit there and see what kind of adhesive is used. Probably should pick up some of the gel adhesives and try them as well. I'll keep using rubber cement in the meantime which by the way has become harder and harder to find here in Chiang Mai.

The mention of corrosion again has me wondering if the motor might need some corrosion protection. Maybe I could spray some silicone lubricant on the metal parts.

I haven't been in the room when a weight has come loose but my son has. Seems he was quite startled.

Grin

Edit: just read an email from a friend and he uses masking tape to attach the weights. That sounds promising to me.

Edited May 3, 201511 yr by grin

I haven't been in the room when a weight has come loose but my son has. Seems he was quite startled.

Mine *sounded* like gun shots when they ricocheted off the cement walls and ceramic floor tiles, so yeah, I bet he was startled.