Ceiling fans are essential home appliances that can help you keep your room more comfortable. One of the best things about ceiling fans is that they can make your room cool and comfortable on summer days without much energy consumption.

These fans come with multiple speed setups. The faster they spin, the cooler you’ll feel, and vice versa. However, sometimes it seems that the ceiling fans aren’t rotating as fast as they’re supposed to, and it can be a real pain to deal with.

In this article, we’ll discuss how to increase ceiling fan speed so that you can unlock the true potential of your ceiling fan and avoid having to purchase a new one. Let’s get started!

How to Increase Your Ceiling Fan’s Speed?

In this section, we’ll discuss the steps that you’ll have to follow if you want to increase the speed of your ceiling fan. The steps are as follows:

 

Step 1: Wipe the Fan Blades

A lot of dust accumulates on the blades of your ceiling fan, as they keep on rotating at high speed constantly. The accumulation of dust can make the blades heavier, and it also throws them off-balance.

Once your fan blades are imbalanced, they tend to wobble a lot. This, in turn, reduces their speed quite a lot.

You can fix this easily by wiping the fan blades with wet clothes. Wipe them with wet clothes first, and then dry them off with a dry and spongy cloth to remove all of the dust while not damaging the fan blades.

 

Step 2: Tighten the Blades Firmly

If you still have wobbling even after the blades are clean, then the blades are either bent or loose. If the blades are bent too badly, you’ll need to replace them.

On the contrary, if those blades are slightly damaged, then you might be able to get them repaired by a professional.

In case the blades are loose, then it’ll be comparatively easier to fix them. You need to find out the ports in which the blades are fixed and then check whether they’re loose or not.

If you find that one of the blades are loose, just tighten them up with a screw, and you’ll be good to go.

 

Step 3: Lubricate the Ball Bearing

You may find that the fans are moving slowly even after Steps 1&2. In this case, you need to lubricate the moving parts of the fan.

If the fan is old, then there’s a high chance that the moving parts such as the ball bearings and the nuts became rusty. Sometimes the lube becomes dry too. In such circumstances, adding extra lube to them restores them to the primary form, which will improve their speed by reducing friction.

Maintain caution when applying lube to the fan. Each fan comes with different requirements, which is why they might need different types of oil. Usually, the manufacturers provide information about the type of oil you need to use. Make sure to use that specifically. This is NOT one of those times to just spray WD-40 on it and move on.

Sometimes you’ll find that the existing oil is just old and dirty. So just like any other machine with lots of moving parts, you need to empty out the dirty oil and replace it with new fresh oil.

This will fix the cases where the oil is too dirty or dried out.

 

Step 4: Check the Switch

Sometimes the pull chains on the fans are faulty, and this makes them miss a certain speed setting. If the fastest speed setting is missed by the faulty switch, then you won’t get the maximum potential out of the fans.

This fix is comparatively tougher. You need to pull the speed chain of the fan and then turn the fan on to the slowest speed setting. Keep on switching the fan to higher speed settings while you listen to the motor.

You should observe a certain change in the sound of the motor each time you switch it to a new setting. Be cautious when you’re switching to the last setting. If you don’t hear a sound while switching to the last speed setting, then there’s something wrong with the switch, and changing it will help you out.

Unfortunately this could be something you will have to contact the manufacturer for help with as it will be different with every fan. If you are the tinkering type then you might be able to figure it out on your own.

 

Step 5: Fix the Wiring

Faulty wiring might be one of the major reasons why your fan isn’t moving at the speed it should. You need to check the wiring that’s connecting the pull chain with the main wiring.

This can be done easily, but you need to be extra cautious while working with the wiring. Although the limited current flow in these wires won’t be fatal, they can still electrocute you to some degree.

We highly recommend maintaining absolute caution while using them. Make sure that the switch is turned off before you start working on these or even going as far as to flip the fuse in the fuse box to off. (Better safe than sorry, trust me, I have melted a few screwdrivers in my day)

If the wiring is faulty, then you’ll need to reroute it. This isn’t a hard job but some will struggle if its your first time.

 

Step 6: Replace the Ball Bearing

The ball bearings of your fan are very important, and your fan’s speed will decrease if the bearings become old and dirty.

In such cases, you’ll need to change the bearings. This fix won’t cost you much, and it’ll get the job done if the previous ones aren’t working for you.

This also falls into the might be complicated for some.

 

Step 7: Change the Motor of the Fans

If changing the switch doesn’t solve the problem, then something might be wrong with the motor winding. Each motor comes with a winding, and if the winding isn’t properly done, then you need to visit a professional to get this fixed.

In case the motor can’t be fixed, you’ll need to change the motor entirely. Make sure you get a motor that comes with a rating similar to the previous one; otherwise, the motor won’t work properly.

This might cost you a bit, which is why we highly recommend resorting to this if the previous fixes don’t work out for you.

 

Your all done!

Having a slowly moving fan on a hot summer day can really get on your nerves. If you’re suffering from this, then you can get your fan fixed through the aforementioned steps.

Sometimes, however, it is just easier and cheaper to purchase a new one. If your in that boat then make sure to check out our best ceiling fans post so that you can be sure to get the one that works for you.