Beware of flying fan blades!!! - Montana Owners Club

vickir · 05-06-2009, 03:04 PM

So I'm sitting on the couch, minding my own business and watching "NCIS" when there's a loud bang and I see/hear something fall about 3 feet to my left. Both Steve and I think something has fallen on the roof (we're parked under some lovely trees) but when we get up to investigate, I found a blade from the ceiling fan on the table between the couch and the wall. It had broken off the ceiling fan ... not come unscrewed ... the metal thingy that attaches it to the fan broke and the blade went flying. Fortunately, it didn't it a windown or a glass cabinet door ... or ME!!!

The fan's low speed crapped out a couple of months ago and we've been putting off replacing it. Guess we need to go fan shopping, huh?

rames14 · 05-06-2009, 03:15 PM

Sorry to hear about the fan, but glad that it didn't do any damage to you or Steve. Our new Big Sky arrived and one of the fan blades was already off. I don't know why they don't loctite those things in or something.

H. John Kohl · 05-06-2009, 03:21 PM

Ouch, glad no one was hurt. Yep time for new fan.

bob n pam · 05-06-2009, 04:04 PM

Holy Cow! Almost beheaded in your own home!

Pam

HamRad · 05-06-2009, 05:09 PM

vickir,

Yep! Time to go fan shopping! Wow! That would have been on the scary side. Sure glad no one and nothing got damaged.

Dennis

Bill-N-Donna · 05-06-2009, 10:11 PM

That isn’t something that you hear very often if ever. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of a fan blade coming off. I seen them wobble and wondered how long it had before something like that might happen. I do think that the fan in a camper is something to keep a close watch on though. I believe the screws could work loose maybe a little quicker than normal. Glad that everyone was ok and nothing was damaged. It could have been a lot worse. Someone must have been watching over you!

Glenn and Lorraine · 05-06-2009, 11:50 PM

Glad neither of you were hit by it and that there were no other damages done.
A couple years ago we had one blade vibrating and found the screws loosened but I have never heard of one breaking.

stiles watson · 05-07-2009, 03:16 AM

Bummer, Sounds like it might have been damaged in some way. Did it ever hit a slide while it was retracted? I put a new capacitor in mine, but it sounds like enough is wrong with it that replacement is the way to go. Gad, I hate installing fans.

Pete Hanson · 05-07-2009, 04:18 AM

Happy to hear it missed you. I guess I will be checking ours now.

David and Jo-Anna · 05-07-2009, 04:33 AM

Thanks for the heads up (or is that heads off)

We'll be checking ours.

That is really scary - so glad you are ok.

Parrothead · 05-07-2009, 05:37 AM

Vicki and Steve,
Glad to hear you still have your heads. You can get one with a remote control now! LOL We have had ceiling fans for over 25 years in every room of both of our homes. Ranged in price from $19.95 to $159.95 and never had one break. We have had the screws loosen in the one in the Monty and we do check it once in a while. Also the screws holding the globe in place.
Happy trails...................

daneboy · 05-07-2009, 08:14 AM

Vickir,
Our Monty fan blad has has broken off twice, always when on the road. You can buy replacment metal blade holders at Home Depot, Lowes etc. I had to buy a package of four so I painted them all to match. When the second one broke I had a hand full of spare parts. The are made out of some kind of cheap pot metal and break easely. I'm glad the blade didn't hit anyone.
Jerry

bigred715 · 05-07-2009, 10:37 AM

We found a big gouge in our laminate floor in the kitchen area. Thought something in slide caused the gouge since the kitchen and entertainment
area is on a slide. Found out later it was a screw from the fan blade that fell out and caused damage when slide went back over floor. Have since tightened and replaced 3 screws. Must have been the constant vibration when on the road.

LonnieB · 05-07-2009, 10:43 AM

Sure glad it didn't hit you or break a window.

Seems like nobody builds quality "thingys" anymore

exav8tr · 05-07-2009, 12:15 PM

Checked mine tonight and lo and behold, a broken metal mount. Looks like a trip to Lowes/Home Depot tomorrow. Thanks again go to the MOC family for bringing this to our attention.

Phil

Wiarton William · 05-07-2009, 01:47 PM

Cleaned mine a couple of months ago and found one of the blades so loose it was ready to disengage..tightenned that one up and snugged up the others...

grampachet · 05-07-2009, 02:40 PM

Ours broke off while traveling, CW replaced the whole unit at no cost. Actually the replacement is a three speed while the original was 2 speed. The pot metal piece that the blade fastens to is what broke.

Art-n-Marge · 05-07-2009, 03:27 PM

Well, I've NEVER checked and we use ours all the time. Time to get the ladder out and check things out. Thanks for the heads up.

SlickWillie · 05-07-2009, 03:42 PM

Had a blade carrier break years ago in a rental stick house. I was asleep at the time, and the blade stuck through the sheetrock above the bed. I checked the other three blade carriers, and they were cracked. It sure doesn't hurt to check them occasionally, especially one that doesn't balance out well.

vickir · 05-07-2009, 06:00 PM

Daneboy - thanks for the idea! We need to replace the fan eventually, but replacing the bracket will serve as a bandaid and let us use the fan until we can find the one we want.

Although checking for loosened screws on the blade brackets is a good idea, as some of you mentioned ... it's also necessary to check for cracked/broken brackets as well, like exav8tr did ... ours was not a case of loosened screws, the bracket itself snapped in two and the blade went flying.

Like Sue, in all the years we've had ceiling fans this has never happened before ... and I hope it never does again. That was scary!!!

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