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gcrank1
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# Posted: 17 Jun 2024 14:07 - Edited by: gcrank1
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Bought a couple mid-sized combo c-fan and led light units to mount in the ridge of the new pre-built log cabin.
Fwiw, thus far it has stayed remarkably cool, holding the cool of the night well into mid day. And the cross ventilation of the window layout I designated has been great (window/venting on all four sides). We have yet to stay over on a still, muggy night though.
My main reason for the fans is for heating season to mix the rising hot air; ie, kick it out of the peak and down around the room.
All that said, any suggestions or pointers on doing my install? (other than 'old guy' shoudnt be up on ladder).
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Tim_Ohio
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# Posted: 17 Jun 2024 14:19
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I've found the instructions that come with the fans pretty good for step by step installation. I like to mount the fan blades, having the fan blades already connected to the brackets, on the motor after wiring and hanging the motor. It's awkward and hazardous to walk up a ladder with the whole thing. Also, it should specify what is required to properly anchor the box. Usually screws through the back of the box into the framing is required to support the weight of the fan. You also may have to balance the blades if it does not run smooth. There should a kit for that. Most of the better quality ones don't require balancing, such as Hunter brand. At least that has been the case for me. Did you get ones with a remote?
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paulz
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# Posted: 17 Jun 2024 15:01
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Quoting: Tim_Ohio Did you get ones with a remote?
We have a remote, two in fact, one just for the light. 
You’re right about working around the blades, especially 10 feet up on a ladder. We have, or had, a much smaller 12v ceiling fan with LED light. That one weighed nothing and was small enough to hang in one piece. In fact it just had a hanging hook. Still pushed enough air for a cabin. This one is overkill but it is pretty, and was free.
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ICC
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# Posted: 17 Jun 2024 18:12
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Just following the instructions has led to success for me.
I'm split on remote controls for fans.
Pro: very convenient.
Con: another thing to misplace. Batteries.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 17 Jun 2024 21:09
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I had the wire run pre-done at the cabin build, have a chase upward by door for a dual-switch and along the peak (under the planking). No big deal to flip a switch for us. Then each has dual pull chains, fan and/or light.
As you can tell, Im not fond of remotes.....
I see there are special heavy duty 'fan mount boxes', I can mount those with 3 hd construction screws to the ridge beam. Probably overkill for my 30ish# units but Im good with that.
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Brettny
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2024 10:55
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If there at the peak of your building make sure they have reverse function on the remote.
I put a 120v fan with DC motor on our 16' ceiling a few months ago. Cost about $130 with no light but damn is it quiet.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2024 14:27
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For sure always have a reversible!
120vac to dc; maybe yours has an internal step down?
Ours are 120vac to run off the psi inverter. It may be that two units is overkill but the cabin is 28' long; I evenly spaced them for the length.
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paulz
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2024 16:04
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I’ve done a boatload of balancing attempts on the fan in our city house bedroom, still wobbles, drives me nuts. I’ve used metal binder clips, gone from blade to blade, moved in and out, varied weight, etc, even tried them on two adjacent blades thinking the problem might be between them.
Easier just to go to the cabin..
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rachelsdad
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# Posted: 24 Jun 2024 08:42
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I have four AC to DC fans with remotes. They worked great all last week with high humidity and mod 90f temps.
Only issue is the remotes are too closely "set" and turning one on in room A will turn off the fan in roomC.
Any way to remove the remote and go manual?
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Tim_Ohio
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jun 2024 13:22
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Paulz,
You might try moving the blades around to adjust the balance.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jun 2024 14:23
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Thanks Tim,
I’ll try that. Happen to be at the city house for a car smog test today. Had that fan on last night (ugh, only 25 miles east of the coastal cabin but much hotter) and noticed something odd.. I usually run on low speed, where it wobbles like a drunken sailor. Yesterday I ran it on high, smooths right out, almost livable.
As shown it’s only 4 blades. It’s right above the bed, allowing for hours of aggravation. Also you can see the one clip I have on there, and the same ‘remote control’ rope system the cabin one has.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2024 01:22
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I picked up a couple of the shallow fan rated ceiling boxes at the local 'building center', under $5 each.
Soon will be hd screw mounting them to the ridge beam and be able to install the fan hanger bracket.
It is a fairly comfortable reach and working position so it should go well.
Should I safety strap myself to the tie beams? Wife thinks so.....
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Tim_Ohio
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2024 12:21
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Quoting: gcrank1 Should I safety strap myself to the tie beams? Wife thinks so.....
Wrap yourself in bubble wrap, you'll be fine.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2024 16:13
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Lol...and I do still have my old scarred up mc helmet
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 29 Jun 2024 02:37 - Edited by: gcrank1
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Went for it the other day (no safety!), must be 12ish feet up and standing on the second to top step of the stepladder.
The ceiling bracket is pretty cool, a socket for a ball mount on the top of the fan extension rod. Mount the box, fasten on the hanger bracket and slip the ball in from the side.
The hard/awkward part is doing the wiring, which I haven't done yet. And the instructions leave mounting blades until last, Im Not going to be working upside down to do that, so I test hung the motor unit then slipped it out and down to install the blades in comfort. It was an easy back up, I will just have to be careful not to bang the blades while wiring which will be next trip up.
Im going to do a quick & dirty hook up to test run the unit in place so if there is an issue I can address it more easily.
Oh yeah...I will be using a safety belt to the cross tie to help stabilize me (I hope). I noticed I got a little wobbly when concentrating on the fan rather than my ladder stance.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 29 Jun 2024 02:59
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Best of good luck
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 29 Jun 2024 13:44
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Quoting: gcrank1 must be 12ish feet up and standing on the second to top step of the stepladder.
Got a taller ladder around? I like to be able to use a hand for both climbing and holding on while working. Also the larger ladder footprint helps stabilize.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 29 Jun 2024 14:22 - Edited by: gcrank1
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Good points Paul!
Went at it today and all went well, the test run is a success and Ive somewhat streamlined the process for the next one.
One complication though, the units come with a std 4" downrods; just the thing for a common flat house ceiling I guess, not so much for a cath ceiling. By my calc I need 18"ers (and extension chains for the pulls).
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 3 Jul 2024 23:20
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Wrapped em up today!
Went shopping online and stores for the ext. down rods, no luck. Seems strange to me that Menards sell Patriot Lighting ceiling fan/lights but don't have the correct down rods.  and their 'universal' ones at $20 per 18" didn't call my name.
So I went digging in my garage and came up with the proper 1"od tubing, cut to length and drilled the cross holes for the safety pins then spray painted black to match. Cost $-0-
Now the drop height of the blades is well above my fingers and the bottom of the light globe is even with the bottom of my cross-tie beams (so shadowing shouldn't be an issue.
I can't imagine how much installing these 2 units would have cost if I had an electrician had do it.
They are only a 30" and about 30#, perfect for our interior; both run together off the 300w psw inverter and the air they moved in the heat of today (86F) was nice.
I win!
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paulz
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# Posted: 4 Jul 2024 13:59
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Good job getting it done, by the 4th of July too! Clockwise (winter) or counter (summer)? Never played with mine, much difference?
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 4 Jul 2024 14:55
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My experience, which matches the instruction, lol, is that in summer I want the cooling air flow downward over me to cool my skin. In winter I want the air going upward to kick the risen hot air out of the peak, down the walls to mix the room temp better.
I def run the fan when the furnace is going, in the summer not so much.
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ICC
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# Posted: 4 Jul 2024 21:34 - Edited by: ICC
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The direction of ceiling fan rotation is another one of many things where people have different ideas and what works for you or them, is best. But perhaps different from somebody else.
I have a few ceiling fans, both at home and in the cabin. My fans all turn in the same direction all year, the direction being to move air in a downward direction.
The main reason for that is my fans do not have the typical flat paddle blades mounted at an angle. They have NACA airfoils. Think fixed-pitch aircraft propellor. Narrower at the blade tip and a varying angle from root to tip. They don't work well in the reverse direction.
They are capable of moving more air, with less noise, than a flat paddle blade while using fewer watts. The one in the cabin uses a 24 VDC motor, powered direct from the LFP house battery. The fans at home are connected to the 120 VAC power and convert the AC to DC within the unit to power a DC motor. Still fewer watts overall.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 16 Jul 2024 01:09 - Edited by: gcrank1
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We have had a heat wave this past week and the normal meadow breeze has slacked off. All that to say the fans have been run more, and are they nice!
The 2 bulb led light globes put out great light too. For more 'gentle' lighting the portable led usb rechargeable bulbs do well.
I have been pleased with how well my 12v 100ah lfp bat has been holding up. At first I was careful about my bat use, a holdover from my lead acid bat days I guess, now I just use the bat inverted power whenever I want. And the bat just keeps going
Yep, all a win-win. I can recommend with enthusiasm this type of power and device system for a small to medium cabin, at least for part time cabin living.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 3 Aug 2024 22:29 - Edited by: gcrank1
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We had another week of mid-high '80f c/w high dew point and the fans have been Great; no need for ac for us
Fwiw on the 100ah lfp bat, I ran it down to the inverter low voltage shut off at 10.2vdc. It went pretty quick from 12.4 downward increasing in speed to shut off as the voltage dropped. I don't know how many hours I got running on this one but it has been in since May 1, so 3 months of our part time rec use and we use the inverted to 120vac whenever we want.
Now I really know this bat will run stuff from a full charge of 13.3 to 10.2. I intend to typically stop at 12.8ish.
Swapped in the second at 13.2+ and will do the same test just to know if it behaves the same.
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Fanman
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# Posted: 4 Aug 2024 17:23
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I ended up buying a mismatched downrod when installing the (used) fan in our cabin (the fan is bronze finish, the downrod is copper) but it's not really noticeable.
I painted the exposed Romex dark brown so it, too isn't noticeable against the dark wood.
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Desim
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# Posted: 4 Aug 2024 20:05
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Hunter fan web site "hunterfan" .com has a great tutorial on how to "balance" a fan.
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