Ceiling Fan Remote Controls

[Bird]

We have one little bedroom and this room where my computer, desk, file cabinet, etc. are that have no ceiling fans. I have ordered fans that should be delivered tomorrow. But today I was looking at the remote controls for ceiling fans at both Lowe's and Home Depot, then looked some on the Internet, and can't decide. In the first place the remotes vary considerably in price and I don't know what the difference is. And in looking at some opinions on the Internet, it appears that some folks are very happy with their remote controls while others say they have had to replace theirs frequently. The idea of having to take a fan down to replace parts doesn't appeal to me. Have any of you had any experience with these things? Good? Bad? Any particular model you like or don't like?

The fans I'm going to install are these Hunter 23867s.

 

[SnowRidge]

We had the All Fan/Light Remote shown on that page. The only problem we had with it was a power failure would turn the light on and leave it it on when service was restored, until we turned it off ourselves. Not a real issue, but it could be if you lived someplace with flaky power.

We have never had to replace a fan remote. We have had to replace a couple of fans due to them getting noisy. They were Hampton Bays.

 

[Bird]

I guess Hampton Bay is Home Depot's house brand and Harbor Breeze is Lowe's. I can't remember for sure because it's been so long ago, but many years ago, I installed 4 ceiling fans in the house we owned, then later I installed 4 in my parents' home, and I think I've always bought Hunter fans, which both Lowe's and Home Depot sell. However, the particular fans I wanted were not in stock in either box store; would have to order them, so I found a considerably cheaper place to order then online. Now if FedEx delivers them undamaged everything will be OK.

 

[SpringHollow]

We have several of the Hampton Bay brand remotes that we retrofitted to some fans mainly because we wanted to add light kits to the fans and have a "light switch" without having to rip apart a cathedral ceiling. They have worked extremely well. We bought extra controllers (mounted them in the wall) so we have 3-way switching.

Ken

 

[GaryM]

I have nine Hunters at my place, all with the earlier model of the remote shown. They occasionally do turn the light on if there's a power fluctuation. other than that, and getting nine different codes set up, I've had no problems in three years.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've had remote control fans from both Home Depot and Lowes with good results. Our current home has one from Lowes that came with the the remote control already installed, which works great. We couldn't find a remote control fan that we (Steph) liked for our bedroom, so I bought the kit to convert the fan to remote control from Lowes. Both remotes are identical.

We've never had any problems with either remote in two years. The only thing we did have happen was the lights in our bedroom got kind of dim on us. We thought the bulbs were going bad, when by accident, we held down the light button and the lights got brighter!!! Neither of us had any idea that the button was also a dimmer. hahahaha

The secret to a ceiling fan is a solid mount. I like to run at least two screws through the box into a solid piece of wood. I use 2x6's, 2x4's or 3/4 inch plywood to secure them. You can't have it too solid, but if it's not, it will wiggle itself loose in time.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

The secret to a ceiling fan is a solid mount.

I certainly agree with that. Many years ago when I installed ceiling fans in our house and in my parents' house, I had to spend a lot of time in the attic anyway because I had to run the wiring, put in junction boxes, etc., so I put in additional 2 x 4s to attach the fans. However, I ain't gettin' in the attic this time, partly because of my age and physical condition, partly because there's 13" of blown in insulation up there so you'd have to feel your way around, and partly because Lowe's has some metal braces that can installed from underneath through a relatively small hole in the ceiling. They're rated for fans up to 70 pounds. And if I have to make too big a hole . . ., well, Lowe's and Home Depot have some decorative plastic disks up to 28" diameter. And I guess I'll have to buy a couple of remote control kits.

When our next door neighbors go out of town, I feed and water their cats, and they have one fan with a remote control mounted on the wall. I know once during a thunderstorm, brief power outage, etc. both a light and the fan came on, so when I went over there, it took me a few minutes to figure out how to turn them off.

 

[SpringHollow]

We have thunderstorms and power outages all of the time and I have never had the fan or lights turn on with the Hampton Bay.

Ken

 

[Bird]

Ken, the two fans we currently have, one in the living room and one in our bedroom, each has two wall switches; one for the lights and one for the fan, but no remotes. However, in the bedroom we have a couple of those lamps with no switches; just touch them to turn them on, a second touch gets brighter, the third touch gets the brightest, and the next touch turns them off. It certainly doesn't happen every time we have a power outage, but occasionally when the power comes back on, so does one or both of those lamps.

 

[jwstewar]

Bird,

We had a Harbor Breeze remote on our living room fan for almost 8 years. It was still working until about 2 weeks ago when our house burnt down. The way it worked, it would always shut the fan & light off should the power drop for a second. I was very happy with it. We also had one in our bedroom from Sears that didn't work worth a crap. Had to hold it almost to the light for it to work. In the new house that will hopefully be started before long, we will have Hunter fans and probably the Harbor Breeze remotes. The Hunter ceiling fan we used to have in our kitchen put out a lot more air than the Harbor Breeze throughout the rest of the house - though it was a lot pricier.