My wife and I wanted to add some elegance as well as energy savings to our home. We decided to add two ceiling fans to our living room. These fans produce year around savings.  In the summer, ceiling fans create cooling breezes. If you don’t have air conditioning, this will give you some added comfort, and if you do have air conditioning, this will help its efficiency Once you get to the winter months, it will circulate heated air to keep the room warm.

In today’s economy, we didn’t want the added expense of hiring an electrician to install new studs, wiring, ceiling repairs, and painting; not to mention the cost of the ceiling fans. So, we decided to install the fans where the existing lights were. The wiring is there and there is already an electrical box mounted there. All we have to do is take the light down and install the fan.  If this sounds like something you might want to do, then this is the article for you!

I want you to know that not all electrical boxes are mounted strong enough to hold a ceiling fan. If you have any doubt about its ability to hold the fan, then you should replace the existing electrical box with one designed for ceiling fans.

1. Turn OFF the Power to the circuit that the fan will be on before starting installation. For us, we turned off the breaker that was marked “living room ceiling lights”. To verify that the lights were really off, we turned the switch on and there were no lights, so we knew they were off.

2. Assemble the Ceiling Fan: Follow the specific assembly instructions that came with the ceiling fan you are installing. Ceiling fan assembly varies from model to model.

General instructions on how to assemble a ceiling fan

A. With most models you can turn the motor over so that the top of the motor faces you then unwrap the wires.

B. Feed the motor wires through the hanger ball and downrod assembly. Set the downrod in the top coupling.

C. Loosen the set screw on the top coupling to install the downrod and ball assembly.

D. Once the ball assembly and downrod are installed, tighten the set screw securely. The set screw must be properly installed as described above or the fan could wobble as a result.

E. Use the screws and grommets to secure the flange to the blade. Repeat this on each blades then turn motor over to mount the blades. Blades can be installed before or after hanging the fan motor in place.

F. Attach one blade assembly to the motor hub using the appropriate screws. Do not tighten screws completely at this time. It is best to attach all blades first.

G. Install the remaining blade assemblies in the same way. Gently snug all flange screws to the motor hub, working around the hub in a clockwise sequence.

H. Securely tighten all flange screws at this time; working around the hub in a clockwise sequence.

Note: Failure to follow these steps could result in fan wobble as well.

3. Hang the Ceiling Fan

A. Securely attach the mounting bracket to the outlet box and pull the wires through the center hole.

B. Carefully lift the fan and set the hanger ball and downrod assembly on the hanger bracket that is attached to the outlet box. Be sure the groove in the ball is lined up with the tab on the mounting bracket.

Warning: Failure to set the tab in the groove could cause damage to the electrical wires and possible shock or fire hazard. Also, do not the pinch wires between the hanger ball/downrod assembly and hanger bracket.

4. Wiring the Ceiling Fan – If after reading the instructions, you have any doubts about wiring, have your fan installed by a licensed electrician or someone who feels confident about doing so.

The following steps are for a ceiling fan without a light fixture. If you are using a light fixture with your fan, see the light fixture owner’s manual for wiring instructions. Usually all you have to do is hook up wires of the same color.

A. VERIFY POWER IS OFF. I know that we went over that, just be sure that it is.

B. Connect the green grounding wire from the fan and the green grounding wire from the mounting bracket to the grounding wire in the electrical box (This may be a bare copper wire or a wire with green colored insulation). Securely connect wires with wire connector that comes with your fan.

C. Securely connect the fan motor white wire to the supply white (or neutral) wire using the wire connector that comes with your fan.

D. Securely connect the fan motor black wire to the black wire  in the electrical box using a wire connector that comes with your fan

E. After connections have been made, carefully push leads into the outlet box, with the white and green leads on one side of the outlet box and the black leads on the other side of the outlet box.

5. Complete Assembly

A. As I stated before, Different fans will have different components to assemble. Just follow the instructions for your particular model.

6. Turn on Electrical Power

7. Pull chain and make sure the fan is operating properly

Run the ceiling fan on all speeds to make sure the base is secure and there is no wobble or funny noise. If the newly installed fan wobbles or is making a funny noise, it may need to be balanced. Your instructions should walk you through that. It will have you add counterweights(that should come with your fan) to balance it. However, if all goes well, your fan should be working properly and you should be enjoying it for years to come.