Ceiling fan failure
 

The ceiling fan in our lanai has stopped working - the motor still makes its usual noises as I sequence through the speed settings, but the blades remain motionless. It is 20 years old so I suspect a new fan is in order.

The fan has a 3' pipe joining it to the high ceiling. My ladder isn't tall enough to reach the top but I can get to the top of the fan unit where it joins the pipe. Is this likely to be something that unscrews so I can leave the pipe in place and just mount a new fan unit on the bottom?

Is there a particular "fan man" that you recommend if I decide to have it replaced professionally (which Mrs Fox assures me is the way to go!)?

Thank you

You will need an electrician. The wires that connect the fan are in the box in the ceiling. The whole thing needs to come down to replace.

I would suggest buying a fan from Dan's Fans. If you spend enough, ($200 or so), the installation will be free. My fan was installed by a licensed electrician, and it took about 5 minutes. He did need to detach it from the ceiling. I think the remote control receiver is located in the ceiling enclosure. But also, the fans are designed to be connected at the ceiling, and usually come with their own rod.

Based on your comment about the drop down tube...... PLEASE call Dan's Fans or an electrician !!!!

To answer your question about using the existing pipe it is a definite MAYBE. There are slightly different ways to connect the motor unit to the pipe extension. The newer fans seem to have standardized these and you can buy separate extension pipes as necessary. However, your fan is old enough that it may have and odd ball connection. As for the wiring, after turning off the circuit breaker, you should be able to cut the wires at the motor and using wire nuts connect your new wires. Once again, this fan is old enough that it may not use the "standard" Black, White, Blue wires, so you would probably have to get to the ceiling connection to verify wiring.
IMHO, I would borrow a neighbor's ladder to get to the ceiling and do a complete new install.
There are several handymen that can handle this type of project, I do not have first hand experience, as I tend to do my own work.

Thank you all for your useful and informative replies.

It certainly sounds as if, with my limited DIY skills, getting a professional in is the way to go.

My preferred route is to buy a fan from Lowe's and have a local electrician do the install, so grateful for any recommendations on who best to use.

Thank you

Lowes will have installers.

Lenhart is good.

Your fan capacitor is bad. It is in the part where you attach the light. You can get these on Amazon for 10.00.

It's a simple remove and replace.

Interesting. I have been meaning to replace that as one of my fan speeds stopped working.

Will give it a go and report back.

I'm back!

I have removed the old capacitor (big bulges on both sides) and have the replacement ready to go in.

Trouble is, the color of the wires is slightly different so I want to be sure that I am connecting like to like.

The old one has red, purple, brown (right to left) whereas the new one has green, brown, red (right to left).

I would be tempted to connect red-red, brown-brown and green-purple but any thoughts would be welcomed.

At the other end of both capacitors are two gray wires. Does it matter which is which?

I have attached photos of both capacitors

Pick a gray from the fan and connect the capacitor gray. Doesn't matter which ones.

I'm not an expert, but regarding the colored ones I'd probably try the order listed on the capacitor. So old capacitor Red goes to Green, Purple goes to Brown & Brown to Red. Seems as they may need to be wired in the order listed on the capacitor. As in 1st, 2nd, & 3rd.

If not correct, your speeds when pulling the chain will be out of order. Should be from off, Hi, med then Lo.

I agree with this comment.

Thank you

It did occur to me later that maybe the colors were irrelevant, and those three just represented the three speeds, so great that you deduce the same. And, since VillageTinker agrees, I think we have a decision :-)

You have the wrong capacitor, the values are not the same. Go to Amazon to get an exact match.

You need a 4/5/6 but you bought a 5/5/5.

Doesn't the capacitor just change the phase in order to cause the fan to start turning? And this one has 3 possibilities in order to wire it to a 3 speed fan. What difference does 1 uF make between the speeds? Looking to learn.