Hunter ceiling fans, how noisy?

[Wade Blomgren]

We purchased two 52" 5 blade Hunter fans ("Southern Breeze"? -
a Home Depot-only model name) for about $80 each.

I've installed one of them, it works well and is very steady
and smooth. But there is definitely a discernable electronic
hum when the fan is turned on, which persists at the same pitch
while the fan is running. I have been lead to believe that Hunters
are quiet fans, but I guess I don't know how quiet to think they should
be, or how that may vary between the top of the line and this model.
It is quieter than a tabletop fan of course, but it does have
a hum that can easily be heard if there is no other noise in the room. At
first my wife thought it seemed pretty reasonable but this weekend
she heard (or rather didn't hear, it was dead quiet) a fan in her
folks house and now she thinks I may be right that the fan isn't
as quiet as it should be. Of course that other fan might be a better
brand or higher priced model, I don't know. I won't be able to
install our second identical fan for a while to compare them.

So, how quiet should I expect an $80 Hunter to be? Virtually silent
except for the moving air, or is a low electric hum to be expected?

Thanks for any feedback,

Wade Blomgren
wade
@
ucsd.edu

[Danny Bolt]

Wade Blomgren wrote in message <64a5ls$n1d$1...@hole.sdsu.edu>...

>We purchased two 52" 5 blade Hunter fans ("Southern Breeze"? -
>a Home Depot-only model name) for about $80 each.
>>

>So, how quiet should I expect an $80 Hunter to be? Virtually silent
>except for the moving air, or is a low electric hum to be expected?
>
>Thanks for any feedback,
>
>Wade Blomgren
>wade
>@
>ucsd.edu

These should be silent, did you use a wall-mounted speed control? They will
hum if Hunter's speed control is not used.

Dan Bolt, Des Moines

[Clint Cuzzo]

I've installed and used 4 Hunter fans. They were are virtually silent.
Three were more expensive units ($175?), one less so ($100). The
cheaper unit made a _little_ more noise, but not sigificantly so.

[Jeff Gilbert]

Wade Blomgren wrote:
>
> We purchased two 52" 5 blade Hunter fans ("Southern Breeze"? -
> a Home Depot-only model name) for about $80 each.
>

> I've installed one of them, it works well and is very steady
> and smooth. But there is definitely a discernable electronic
> hum when the fan is turned on, which persists at the same pitch
> while the fan is running. I have been lead to believe that Hunters
> are quiet fans, but I guess I don't know how quiet to think they should
> be, or how that may vary between the top of the line and this model.
> It is quieter than a tabletop fan of course, but it does have
> a hum that can easily be heard if there is no other noise in the room. At
> first my wife thought it seemed pretty reasonable but this weekend
> she heard (or rather didn't hear, it was dead quiet) a fan in her
> folks house and now she thinks I may be right that the fan isn't
> as quiet as it should be. Of course that other fan might be a better
> brand or higher priced model, I don't know. I won't be able to
> install our second identical fan for a while to compare them.
>

> So, how quiet should I expect an $80 Hunter to be? Virtually silent
> except for the moving air, or is a low electric hum to be expected?
>
> Thanks for any feedback,
>
> Wade Blomgren
> wade
> @
> ucsd.edu

Are you feeding them unfettered 117vac, or is their a dimmer/attenuator
in line somewhere? If yes, the type and quality of the attenuator is
critical -- it must be the 'rotary switch' style meant for ceiling fans.
The infinitely-variable dimmer type will indeed torture the fan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeff Gilbert
~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Wade Blomgren]

Jeff Gilbert (je...@goodnet.com) wrote:

: Wade Blomgren wrote:
: >
: > We purchased two 52" 5 blade Hunter fans ("Southern Breeze"? -
: > a Home Depot-only model name) for about $80 each.
: >
: > I've installed one of them, it works well and is very steady
: > and smooth. But there is definitely a discernable electronic
: > hum when the fan is turned on, which persists at the same pitch
: > while the fan is running. I have been lead to believe that Hunters
: > are quiet fans, but I guess I don't know how quiet to think they should
: > be, or how that may vary between the top of the line and this model.

: Are you feeding them unfettered 117vac, or is their a dimmer/attenuator

: in line somewhere? If yes, the type and quality of the attenuator is
: critical -- it must be the 'rotary switch' style meant for ceiling fans.
: The infinitely-variable dimmer type will indeed torture the fan.

Just direct ac, no dimmer. The house was prewired for fans with fan-grade
mounting boxes in the ceiling, wired to wall switches by the door (two
switches, 3 wires plus ground in the fixture, to control fan and light).

The fan has no light kit. I wired it according to the instructions,
if I recall making use of the black, white wires (leaving the third red
wire from the fixture capped off) joined up all the grounds as instructed.
The fan works, in both directions, at all 3 speeds, and the wall
switch also works to turn it off and on. I assume since it
is wired directly and it operates it can't really be a miswiring problem -
or could it, what if hot and neutral are reversed? (I am somewhat
electricity-challenged so forgive me if that is a stupid question)

Several people have said "should be virtually silent". The hum (definitely
electrical, not a vibration) is hard for me to quantify. Maybe
a refrigerator in the next room, a stalled drill motor under a pillow,
not really loud but a bit insidious when the rest of the house is silent
(fan is over the bed). Hum starts right when you hit the switch
and continues (at the same frequency I think) as the fan starts spinning
and comes up to speed.

Perhaps before I hang the second fan (15 feet up, waiting to borrow a
ladder) I should put that second unit in this fixture and see how
it sounds?