Did you know that installing ceiling fans throughout your home could help bring both your heating costs and your cooling costs back down to earth? You’ll be able to heat and cool your home way more efficiently through the use of these ceiling fans.
If this sounds appealing to you, you should take some time to learn about how to install a new ceiling fan before you get started. Installing a new ceiling fan isn’t the most difficult job in the world. But ceiling fan installation can be intimidating if you haven’t ever done it before.
We’ve put together a ceiling fan installation guide that should make it simple for you to install a new ceiling fan in no time at all. You can start taking advantage of a ceiling fan right away once you’ve had it installed properly.
Check out how to install a new ceiling fan from start to finish below.
Start by Deciding Where You’re Going to Install a New Ceiling Fan
Technically, you can figure out how to install a new ceiling fan in just about any room in your home. But there are some rooms where ceiling fans are going to work way better than others.
For instance, a ceiling fan will be an excellent addition to any:
- Bedroom
- Living room
- Kitchen
- Nursery
- Home office
You should decide where you would like to strategically position a ceiling fan in your home so that you’re able to make the most of it. Try to make a decision on this before you begin shopping around for a ceiling fan since it’s going to have an impact on which ceiling fan you want to buy.
Look For the Right Ceiling Fan to Put Into Place in Your Home and Buy It
Once you know where you’re going to be installing a new ceiling fan in your home, the next thing you’ll want to do is shop around for the best one for it. You can buy everything from a small ceiling fan that won’t generate too much wind to a very large ceiling fan that will really get the air in a room moving around.
That being said, there are some qualities that you should look for in a ceiling fan prior to purchasing it. The ceiling fan should have these attributes:
- It should be manufactured by a reputable company
- It should be affordably priced
- It should be simple to install
- It should be packaged with a great warranty
As long as a ceiling fan checks all of these boxes, you can welcome it into your home and start the ceiling fan installation process.
Turn Off the Power in the Room Where You’ll Be Installing a Ceiling Fan
Before you start trying to install a new ceiling fan, it’ll be very important for you to turn off the power in the room where you’ll be working. You do not want to encounter any live electrical wires while installing a new ceiling fan.
In fact, you may want to go as far as to shut off all the power in your entire home just to be safe. It’ll ensure that you don’t have to worry about working on an electrical box that might still have power going to it.
Remove the Lighting Fixture That You’ll Be Replacing With a Ceiling Fan
After you’ve shut down the power in the room where you’re going to be installing a new ceiling fan (or better yet, the power in your whole house), you can start to remove the lighting fixture that you have in the room to make space for the ceiling fan.
This will involve taking off the cover for the lighting fixture, removing the light bulb from it, and then unscrewing the base of the fixture to bring it down towards you. This will expose the wires that are used to provide power to it.
You can disconnect each of these wires from the lighting fixture while being careful while you’re doing it. There should be a black wire, a white wire, and possibly a green grounding wire that you’ll have to disconnect to take your old lighting fixture down.
In the event that you don’t happen to have a lighting fixture in the room where you want to install a ceiling fan, you’ll need to go through the process of cutting a hole in the ceiling for your fan and running electrical wiring to it. This is a little bit more complicated than replacing an old lighting fixture with a ceiling fan and may require a call to an electrician (more on this later!).
Remove the Existing Ceiling Box for a Lighting Fixture and Install a New Ceiling Box With a Hangar Bar
One thing that you’ll need to remember when installing a ceiling fan in place of a lighting fixture is that the ceiling box for the lighting fixture is not going to be equipped to hold a ceiling fan. If you attempt to use this ceiling box, you’ll be asking for trouble as it’s usually going to result in your ceiling fan falling to the ground before long.
With this in mind, you’ll need to either get up into the space above the room where you’ll be installing a ceiling fan to remove the existing ceiling box or remove it by reaching up through the hole left by the lighting fixture that you removed. Either way, it’ll be imperative that you throw your old existing ceiling box away and replace it with a new ceiling box that has a hangar bar that is equipped to hold a ceiling fan steady.
Hook Up Your New Ceiling Fan and Install the Base for It to the Ceiling
After you’ve replaced your old ceiling box with a new one that will work with a ceiling fan, you can pull out your new ceiling fan and reconnect the wires that used to run to your lighting fixture to it. Be sure that you connect the wires in the right way based on what colors they are.
From there, you can then install the base of your ceiling fan to your new ceiling box and check to make sure that it’s on tight. At that point, you might want to turn your power back on to test your ceiling fan out to see whether or not it’s working like it’s supposed to.
With a little luck, your ceiling fan should be working right, and you should be able to continue with your new ceiling fan installation project.
Put On the Trim and Blades for Your New Ceiling Fan
If you’ve got the base for your ceiling fan installed and it’s working properly, the only thing that will be left to do is to put the trim and blades for your ceiling fan on. You should consult the instruction manual for your specific ceiling fan to see how this is done.
You can then turn your new ceiling fan on to see how it works. You should give some thought to which way you want it to spin, and turn it on and off a few times to ensure that everything seems to be working.
Hire an Electrician to Help You With Your New Ceiling Fan If You Need a Hand
Is your head spinning right now as you try to understand how to install a new ceiling fan? Or are you physically incapable of lifting a ceiling fan up to install it?
You should know that, while installing a ceiling fan isn’t that hard to do, it is a job that you might want to leave to a professional. There are well over 700,000 electricians operating throughout the country today, so there are bound to be at least a few in your area who can assist you.
If you’re not comfortable with the idea of installing a new ceiling fan yourself for one reason or another, reach out to an electrician and ask them to come and handle the job for you. They’ll be more than happy to set you up with a new ceiling fan in any room in your home.
Know How to Install a New Ceiling Fan Before You Start Working on It
In the grand scheme of things, installing a new ceiling fan in your home isn’t that difficult to do. But if you make even a tiny mistake while doing it, you could damage your home’s electrical system or do some serious damage to yourself.
It’s why you need to make sure that you know how to install a new ceiling fan before you get started. It’ll increase the chances of the job getting done right and decrease the chances of you sustaining any injuries while doing it.
Browse through the rest of our blog to get your hands on some more useful home improvement tips and tricks.
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