Ceiling fans should be disassembled for proper moving and storage.
Removing a ceiling fan from the ceiling to store it or move it from one location to another requires disassembling the ceiling fan. Because ceiling fan blades are precisely balanced, leaving them on a ceiling fan and moving the fan can damage the blades, thus damaging the motor. A ceiling fan motor is matched to the size and pitch of the fan blades, and any damage to those blades could affect the operation of the motor.
Instructions
1. Remove the light bulbs from the ceiling fan lights. Loosen the set screws holding the light shades to the light kit, and remove the shades.
2. Unscrew the 2 to 3 screws holding the light kit to the ceiling fan motor, and remove the light kit. The light kit attaches to the motor beneath the ceiling fan blades.
3. Remove the fan blades from the fan motor. Each blade arm connects to the motor with 2 screws.
4. Unscrew the 3 screws holding the blade arm to each fan blade. Depending on how long the fan was assembled, you may need to gently pry the blade arm from the blade.
5. Loosen the set screw on the down rod collar, which is a cup-shaped ring of metal at the top of the ceiling fan motor where the down rod installs. Pull the hairpin cotter from the down rod pin to release the down rod pin, allowing you to pull it from the collar. The hairpin cotter is shaped similar to a hairpin, but one side is flat while the other side has two curves in it. The down rod pin is a solid metal tube shaped similar to a thick nail with the sharp end cut off. A small hole is drilled through the end of the down rod pin to allow the hairpin cotter to be pushed through it. Once the down rod pin is removed, you can pull the down rod from the down rod collar. The down rod is a 3/4-inch-diameter hollow metal tube of varying lengths that suspends a ceiling fan from the ceiling.
Tags: ceiling motor, , hairpin cotter, screws holding, ceiling blades