[hlynn]

I just bought 2 hampton bay 54" ceiling fans for my house, but for some reason, it seems like they don't blow at all! The blades are curved a little for "optimal air movement", it says, but it seems like it's just not doing jack. Standing directly under it, I have it on high, and can't even feel any wind at all!

Maybe interesting to note:
* Ceilings are about 15 feet high
* Ceiling is angled, like a triangle (we don't have an attic). Fan is in at the top of the angle (it slopes down on both sides of the fan)
* I've tried fwd and rev, rev seems to create just a leeeeetle bit more air movement.
* it _sounds_ like there's air being blown...
* Blades are curved, see picture at http://imagex.homedepot.com/f/248/13...s/162191_3.jpg

I would think from a purely physics point of view, I should feel SOME sort of air when I stand under it in fwd direction, shouldn't I?

Help, it's hot in here!
Thanks!

[RickJ]

You did not say the magic words re it's direction:

Are you positive that the fan is spinning to blow down?
Could it be that it is reversed? :o

[dherman1]

Another question that comes to mind is how close to the ceiling IS the ceiling fan?

How big is the room? The bigger the room is, the bigger a fan you need. In our MBR we have a 52" fan and the room is 18 x 12 and we do have a lot of air movement.

How far below the fan are you? If the room is 15' high and the fan is near the apex, then you are about 12-14 feet below the fan.

When you were at HomerLand, did you stand below the fan you bought and did you feel a draft?

I have a ceiling fan in all my bedrooms and in my 3-season porch. All but one are Hunter and the one that isn't is Hampton Bay. It does seem to be more air movement under the Hunters than on the Hampton Bay one, but that could just be subjective.

For a test, take a box fan and stand the same distance away from it as the ceiling fan is above you. How much air movement do you feel? Move the box fan closer to the wall and farther away from the wall (while keeping yourself the same distance from the fan) I am sure you will find that the closer the box fan is to the wall, the less air movement you will get.

So, if that is the case, I would suggest getting a longer drop tube for your fan to get it closer to the ground.

Hope this helps.

Dan

[hlynn]

The fan's pretty close to the ceiling. It's mounted on a beam, and the ceiling angles about 10 degrees on each side down. Probably only about 6-10 inches between the edge of the blades and the ceiling.

Room is pretty big (maybe 20x25?), so I think I do need a big fan. Big big fan or small fan, I should be SOME air movement right? Standing directly beneath, it feels like there's literally no fan on even (either forward OR reverse mode). But in reverse I can at least see a leeeetle bit of the blinds on the walls moving a little.

I'm thinking now it's probably the curvature of the blades. Anyone else have blades like this? They're not flat, and at an angle like most blades, they're curved, more like a boat propellor's blades... Does this maybe make the air go outward instead of down maybe? Take a look at the picture in the original post.

thanks!

[hlynn]

Oh yeah - I'll try to find a boxfan to try your trick. I guess it could be blowing but I don't feel anything, but it seems so weird - it SEEMS like I should feel SOMEthing!