Can I put WD-40 on a noisey ceiling fan?

Question

The ceiling fan in our dining room sounds awful, it has a mild grinding noise when it's on. I know what it's from too - bad neighbors upstairs not knowing how to fix leaky pipes. Can I put WD-40 on it to quite it down? It's on the inside, the area that rotates. Also, it shakes a lot when it's on so I only keep it on Medium or Low speed. If I have it on high the lamp is moving back and forth. How can I fix this? If I leave it the way it is and grease it up, will it fall down?

Answer 1

if you spray wd40 on it it will all run out onto your carpet !!!

take it down ....clean it up and grease the bearings ....

The shaking means the blades aren`t balanced.... if its been shaking for a long time it could be worn ...and the bearings shot ...... BUY a new one

OH TURN OFF THE ELECTRICITY FIRST

Answer 2

Well how about the right things first;

1. Check to see if the screws holding the blades to the blade mounting arms are tight.

2. Check to see if the s***w holding the blade mounting arms to the motor are tight.

3. Check to see if the screws holding the fan to the fan mounting box in the ceiling are tight.

Now that you have gone past all that balance the blades.

If you don't have the handy blade bal kit you can buy one at the hard ware store. It has a temporary cl it (weight) and some permanent stick on weights. Use the clip to determine where to put the weight, remove the clip, install the weights.

And NO don't use WD-40. The bearings etc in the fan and usually sealed.

Eric

Answer 3

You really need a heavier lubricant. WD-40 will probably stop the squeak, but it might come back a few days later, I would use a little heavier lubricating oil like 3 in 1 oil, should come in small can.

As far as the shaking fan, you need to balance the blades. You can do this with pennies and some masking tape.

It takes a little experimenting. Wipe off back side of blades (top), to get rid of dust so masking tape will stick well. Now start by placing a penny at the top of one of the blades - tape it down with a pc of masking tape. Turn on fan see if wobble is better or worse. May need to move penny toward center of add other pennies to other blades. When you get fan balanced add another pc of masking tape to hold penny down tight.

Ceiling fans are held up by a downrod and bracket in the mounting box. If installed as per directions they cannot just fall down, however the mounting box could have been installed incorrectly.

Good Luck

Answer 4

Yes you can just make sure the fan is off when you spray

Answer 5

A better choice would be ElectricAll a rejuvenating solution for electrical applications.  It is specifically designed for electric motors to lubricate them and it won't run out to stain your flooring treatments.  In addition, the answerer above is correct, you need to get a balancing kit at the home improvement center to stop that shaking or eventually the light cover will shake right out (been there, done that)

Answer 6

One other note. WD-40 is not a very good lubricant. It will work temporarily, but there are many other lubricants (like silicone spray) that work better and longer.

WD-40 is intended to be used to stop rusting by remove moisture. (WD stands for Water Displacing)