Ceiling fan saga revisited

[stiles watson]

As stated in another post, my ceiling fan became one speed rather than three speed. All three switch positions were the same speed, plus one OFF position. Changing the switch with one from Lowes did not help. After much search I found Switchco online and ordered a new capacitor, installed it and to my surprise, now I had three high speeds, one low speed and no OFF.

I called the rep at switchco. She quizzed me about my work and asked, "Did you change the switch?" "Yes," I replied. "Go put the old switch back in and if that doesn't work, call me." I put the old switch back in and the fan works as it should.

Moral of the story: just because the 4-wire, 3-speed switch looks the same does not mean it works the same. After tearing into that fan 3 times, I am glad it finally works properly. Total cost of repair was $21.05 including shipping and tax. The labor was free.

[bsmeaton]

Stiles,

The labor is never free - but the learning I get from your post is! Thanks - and glad you got it running. Did you ever find the fan manufacturer?

[stiles watson]

No, but looking at the new Mountaineer and the Montana site, I see the same fan in their adds. I went to my dealer for help. A tech tried to scavenge a fan they had in stock, but alas, it had the wrong capacitor in it.

It seems that many things use the CBB61 capacitor, but there is a wide array of different capacitors with that same number. They run from 2 wire to 6 wire units and within the differing wired units, there is a wide array of capacitance. My fan has a 5-wire, the scavenged had a 3-wire. I learned a great deal more than I wanted, but still don't know much

[Pete Hanson]

Thanks for sharing your fix Stiles. My fan is working as it should but the light won't turn on for some reason. In my mind it is not a big deal since we hardly ever use that light but as a tinkerer its driving me crazy.
Pete

[NCFischers]

Pete,
Sometimes it's a simple as removing the light bulb and gently pulling down the tab at the base of the socket a bit. At times, the bulb will push it up a little too far and it won't make good contact. Please make sure there is NO power to the socket before you try this. You could also have a faulty pull chain.