It has five 40-watt bulbs, all on.
I turned on the TV and heard a small :pop!:, and it quit turning.
No breakers were tripped.
I’m guessing it’s now a candidate for replacement as opposed to repair, but wondered what migiht have happened.
Stopped working
Any number of things.
Bad switch at the wall or in the fan.
Loose connection.
Burned out motor (very rare).
Does it have different speeds? Do any of the other speeds work? How about the summer/winter switch?
Where was the “pop”?
Fan? Switch? Elsewhere?
Lights work. Fan doesn’t work at all for downward blow, regardless of the sspeed…
Flipping the switch, it works for only one speed–and verrrry, verrrry, slowly (4 rpm!) for upward blow.
The : pop!: was in the general vicinity of the fan. Can’t be more specific.
There is a little box in the fan which controls the speed. It’s what changes the speed when you pull on the chain. I’m guessing something went bad in there and it burned out. You can typically get at the electronics by just removing the light kit. They are between the lights and the fan.
Call the manufacturer and see what kind of warranty they offer. We had a Hunter ceiling fan and I was surprised to find out it has a lifetime warranty. We called with a problem and they sent out a new fan.
You may also be able to find a replacement at the hardware store. Take out your old one and take it to the store with you.
Here’s a picture of the box. It’s the black box in the upper right: http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/FLB/8Q4Z/GO14I8WQ/FLB8Q4ZGO14I8WQ.MEDIUM.jpg
Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
If all three speeds downward and two upward speeds don’t work and the one that does work only sort of works, it sounds like you burned up some internal wiring. My recommendation is that you don’t try using it anymore and just replace it. They’re to cheap to try fixing and it’s not worth it to keep trying it because it sounds like a fire hazard at this point.
Yeah, don’t try to fix it mounted, if you go that route. Depending on the brand, it might just be better to replace it.
Thermal switches*, internal fuses*, cheap wiring coming loose** and grounding out, all could be a cause. If it has remote control, one more variable in the mix.
Outside of warranty, replace.
*if it even has that.
** was it out of balance?
Whatever warranty it had is long gone (it’s at least 11 years old). Was not previously out of balance.
I might call Emmett at his Fix-It shop and see what he can do.
That’s not a bad thought, but why would one speed in the upward direction work…sort of? That’s what makes me think this is in the motor itself and not just the switch.
The OP can pop that cover off and take a look pretty easily though. A switch like that should be easy to fix, but the symptoms, as described, make it at least sound like it extends beyond the on/off switch
At least on our unit, it was the switch. I didn’t know it, but it is an “electronic” connection (vs. electric). The switch itself has an on/off mode and I always wondered why. When I purchased the new switch I was advised to turn off the switch when the fan was not going to be used for an extended period. Apparently they can be prone to failure.
Best guess is a capacitor failed. They’re sealed up in that little black lump in filmore’s link.
Yes, they’re readily replaced, but unless it’s a premium brand such as Hunter, do you want to mess with repairing it, or just buy another fan for $50?
The capacitors control the phase of the AC going to the fan, that is how the fan speed is controlled (and how the fan starts moving in the first place). This is done by switching the power through a matrix of two or more caps connected in parallel. If one of those caps is bad, is quite possible that the fan would only work for one speed and/or be slower than normal (as the other speeds would make use of the other cap).
This would be my guess as well. If you need to go through the hassle of taking the fan down anyway, you may as well just replace the capacitor package to see if that was the culprit. It is relatively easy to do and much cheaper than a new fan.