Ceiling fan speed problem
 

Two years ago you all came in with helpful advice regarding a ceiling fan that had lost some of its speeds.

New problem for you today, class.

I have a Hunter ceiling fan that has lost its fastest speed so I suspect, based on answers to the above, that the capacitor needs replacing.

I have checked all combinations of pull cord and wall switch and can get every speed except the fastest.

I use only the wall switch, not the pull cord on the fan, so can I just remove the capacitor from the fan and "rewire" or is it needed for something other than the various speeds?

My thinking is that the default will be the fastest speed so having no capacitor might let me select all speeds from the wall switch. Or I may burn the place down.

Thank you

Artic Fox, capacitors are cheap usually less than $10, You should be able to see exactly what you need from removal of the light fixture or the bottom plate. Also, I have seen switches go bad, lowes has switch on an end cap in the fan isle, not sure if they have the caps.

Curious...are there individual capacitors for the different fan speeds?

Call Hunter directly. If I'm correct don't they have a lifetime warranty ?

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I respect your "Tool man fix it ability ", but ceiling fans are cheap.
Crawl up there once, replace it, one and done, life is good.

All of the fans I have worked on had one capacitor unit with 3, 4, or 5 wires, depending on the fan design, with typically 2 or 3 different values for different speeds.

Thank you, Michael G, but I'm not one for throwing away something that can be fixed. Especially when replacing a capacitor is much easier than replacing the whole fan. Even better, if the problem can be solved by just removing the capacitor (which I doubt) then the job is even easier.

Thank you, as always, VillageTinker.

My problem is that I am not currently near a decent hardware store so I can't get hold of the right capacitor for at least six weeks. No matter, I have survived on "medium" speed for two years :-)

It is not your cap, it is your pull chain switch. These are available on Amazon. Mechanically these switches are very cheap and prone to breakage. It's unlikely you will find these at a hardware store, although you might find them on their online store.

All of this is assuming that you have set the fan's pull switch to high or to otherwise determine the fan speed and are using the wall switch as an on/off

ArticFox, I am currently out of service, if you can hold on for about 4 weeks i will be glad to look at the fan, and test the switch. I believe you know how to contact me.

If you need a capacitor or a chain switch, you can get them both from Amazon in one day for less than 10 dollars.

Thank you, Toymeister

I leave the fan's "pull chain switch" on maximum and vary the speed using the wall control, so once replaced it should last.

That was the original made in the USA hunter fans that had a real decent motor with oilable bearings. The current ones are made with the cheap parts and motors like all of the other fans.

Have you checked Amazon?

You've introduced new variable into the situation. The problem could be your wall speed control. To determine if that is the problem replace the wall speed control with a standard on/off switch (spst) and see if the fan now operates on high speed.

Not every fan problem is a capacitor issue.

With respect, I did say in my original post: "I use only the wall switch, not the pull cord on the fan..." but I appreciate your continuing to help me fix the problem, Toymeister.

My lanai ceiling fan failed. On disassembly of the fan I found the epoxied capacitor module (4 or 5 wire connections) with a significant bulge in it. Ordered an exact replacement from Amazon. About $10. Fan working fine on all speeds ever since.

(Healthy as a horse and darned near as smart.)

Since you always leave the pull chain switch in one position, it's almost certainly the wall control that is bad. The pull chain switch is cheap and could easily fail but the fact that other speeds work tells me that it's ok.. Change out the wall controller.

Pulling the fan chain does change speeds - it just never gives me the top speed, which would be the case if the capacitor were faulty for that setting.

Replace the cap
 

The fan won't run without a capacitor. I replace mine with a duplicate from Amazon or ebay; I don't remember. It has been running for years since.

Why not just remove the capacitor and order a replacement from Amazon? Less than 10 dollars and you can get it tomorrow.

Fan Speed
 

FYI: The only variables that control speed of a single-phase AC motor are the frequency and the number of poles in the motor. The frequency is fixed at 60 cycles from the power company. Your pull chain switches in and out the correct number of poles for the speed.

The formula is: S= 120F/N, where N is the number of poles and F is the frequency.
As an example: At 200 RPM the fan has 36 poles. So, you can see why ceiling fans are so large and heavy.

The capacitor has nothing to do with speed. It increases starting and/or running torque while reducing starting current. Pretty amazing, huh!

If the fan will start by hand-spinning the blades, then you have a bad capacitor. If not, then it is the switch (or really bad bearings!) Poles and windings hardly ever go bad.
Good luck! (P.S. I taught motors & controls at Ohio University for 37 years)

Hunter Capacitor
 

Excellent contact info. They replaced mine for free. It's easy to install.

My Uplifting Experience
 

Easy there, fella. I had the same experience, so I installed turbochargers from the hottest Tesla models on each fan, upgraded my electrical system and presented a special new all-ceiling-fans-at-once remote to my bride for her ----th birthday. She pressed the power button and
KA-POW - the entire roof groaned, snapped free from the house and plopped onto the neighbors' new swimming pool, which we are no longer at liberty to use.

Upside? Won special awards for largest electric drone and for thinking outside the breaker box.

Downside? Buying new furniture every time it rains.