Renew Your Ceiling Fan - How to Save $185

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• published: 04 Oct 2015
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Renewing a Ceiling Fan - www.5minutelearn.com The fan motor housing and light fixture could be painted while still attached to the ceiling, but to get a complete even coat of paint, I believe it is important to remove the whole fan from the ceiling. To do so, begin by removing the light bulb and sconces from the fixture. Detach the light fixture from the fan unit. Obviously this step will vary by the make and model of the fan that you own. It can also vary by the type of light you have attached to your fan. It is also possible to have a ceiling fan with no light fixture at all. Loosen the screws that hide the electrical wires and detach the link. Again, this step can vary greatly. I had a quick connect link, but some units may have the wires nutted together. Next, unscrew the blades from the fan motor housing. I found later, when reattaching the blades, that a long Phillips head bit was much easier to use than a standard size one. *Be careful to find any screws that may fall to floor. As a tip, I suggest placing a white drop cloth underneath your work space to easily identify the screws that could otherwise hide in your carpet or skip across your flooring. Loosen the escutcheon from the joint where the fan connects to the ceiling. The escutcheon can be removed later, but for now we only need access to the wiring that gives power to the fan. Use a voltage tester to confirm whether you have successfully disconnected the power to the unit. My detector gives both a visual and an audible warning if the circuit is still live. I then went to my electrical panel, switched of the appropriate breaker and again used the tester to verify the circuit was safe to touch. Should this step concern you at all, consider using a professional electrician to help you remove and replace the fan. Remove the connectors from the fan blades and clean all the pieces you plan to paint with an all-purpose cleaner. You will want everything as clean and dry as possible to ensure a uniform coating. Spend some time masking off any and every surface that you do not want painted. Take special care with the light sockets and fan motor housing. Paint in the wrong places can ruin the fan unit pretty quickly. I used Rust-oleum’s Metallic Paint and Primer in One in a Satin Nickel finish. I found that this spray paint coated extremely well and I didn’t have to second coat anything except in some of the more tight spaces of the fan housing. I used quick motions to lightly coat everything several times so as not to allow the paint to pool or drip. We decided to paint the fan blades a semi-gloss black. Using Rust-oleum’s 2X Ultra Cover Paint and Primer. Again, I was able to coat the blades smoothly and with only 1 coat. Let everything dry for at least 8 hours, although I would suggest you let them all sit for a full 24 hours if you can. Then you can reverse the previous steps and begin piecing the fan back together. Before I connected everything up, I tested my light fixture and fan motor to ensure I had properly connected all my wires correctly. This can really save you time and frustration. ***A couple things to note. PAINTING: I had forgotten, when I painted the tops of the screws that some of the tops point up and expose the end tips to view - therefore I had painted the wrong ends. This was easily remedied by spraying some of the Satin Nickel paint onto some cardboard and using a small, detail paint brush I touched up the exposed ends. COST: It also bears noting that my wife hated the fan (which came with the house 9 years ago) with its white and polish brass motif. The white blades really showed off any dirt and dust and the polished brass dated the home – not to mention clashed with the palette colors of the room. Our immediate answer was to completely replace the fan unit, but with an investment of about $15 and about 2 hours of work we saved ourselves the cost of a new ceiling fan. Supply list: Screwdriver/Cordless Drill – with both regular and Phillips tips Voltage Tester All-purpose cleaner Towels Rust-oleum Metallic Paint and Primer in One - Satin Nickel Rust-oleum 2X Ultra Cover Paint and Primer - Semi-gloss Black Masking tape/Blue painter’s tape Drop cloth Step stool Breakdown - Take the Lead by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100796 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Ecstasy X by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: http://audionautix.com/