Casablanca Ceiling fan WOES

[Gooserider]

We have a VERY high cathedral ceiling in our living room - it follows the inside of the 12 / 12 pitch roof, and is 24.5 feet from the floor to the ceiling peak.

At the peak of the ceiling we have a ceiling fan, hanging from a 4' downrod. The house came with a cheapo no-name brand fan that was presumably put up when the house was built around 1980, and lasted until 2005 when it died. While it had an adjustable speed, it was effectively non-reversible as the only way to reverse it was a switch on the fan motor which was essentially non-reachable.

The slope of the ceiling, plus the downrod makes it nearly impossible to reach the fan - if one puts a ladder to the peak, the ceiling slope leaves no room to reach the fan mount, and the motor is to low to reach. Due to the way the house is laid out there isn't a way to get in with a scissors lift. I spent massive amounts of time when the old fan died in trying to find out how to get to the ceiling to replace it, and it ended up that the only thing I could find to do was rent an 18' scaffolding tower from Lynn Ladder - which worked but it's kind of strange having to build scaffolding in the living room...

Given the issues of trying to replace the fan, we decided that rather than doing another budget fan, we would spend the money to get a premium quality fan, that would NEVER (we thought) require us to go up there again.

We also wanted something that would be reversible from the ground - as a non-reachable reverse switch isn't much good...

So we spent big money on a Casablanca Fan Co. "Panama II" fan, with their "Inteli-touch" fan controller... We were told the fan had a "lifetime" warranty and it had the ability to be reversed at the touch of a button from the control switch.... I installed it, using the existing wiring - and it worked fine until recently, when it started only running at slow speed, and not responding to the control other than to turn on and off, or reverse...

I called Casablanca tech support - who seemed pretty knowledgeable about the product, and US based... The tech diagnosed the problem as being the controller board - located in the fan motor housing, and sorry, the "lifetime warranty" is only on the motor, not any of the other internal parts, so it will be $106 for the board, plus whatever it cost to get up to the fan to make the repairs... This is NOT happy-making news, especially on a fan that is less than 5 years old...

As a comparison, HD has a huge number of ceiling fans in the $75-150 price range, or about what it would cost us to fix the Casablanca (I'm not including the cost to get to the fan, as I figure that will be the same no matter what I do...) I'm debating whether I would be better off to try and fix the fancy Casablanca - that seems to not be very durable - or just replace it with a Cheapo... Considering that the last cheapo lasted 20 years longer than the fancy fan...

Any input and suggestions welcome...

Gooserider

 

[woodsman23]

I'd replace it with a hunter fan, they are a good cheaper fan and work well for years and years. I have the same issues with a high fan 18ft and it can be a real pain to get to. I replaced our old one with a hunter fan w/remote for 150.00 and it has been great for 5 + years.

 

[burnham]

Over the last fifteen years I've installed literally hundreds of ceiling fans, and always push people toward Casablanca. It stinks that your fan is having problems, but to me it's worth fixing. I've hung a lot of those fans, and never had a problem with one, or gone to a house to replace one for that matter. I don't know how far you are from Westford, but the people at Westford Home Lighting are really good. If you can make it there, try to talk to Paul or John. Maybe they could do something for you, at least get a better price on the part.

If you go with another fan, Hunter and Nutone make good fans, and they're a little less money.

 

[DAKSY]

Make that a +3 for the Hunter.
We have a 55" dia. mounted on a cathedral ceiling - with remote
& it's got 5+ years with no issues to date.
I also agree it's kinda wierd to have scaffolding set up in our Great Room,
but ya gotta do whatcha gotta do...

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I've had great luck with Hunters also. I'm moving into a new house at the moment and will have to take the old Hunter ceiling fans down in the old house for painting and drywall stuff. The wife is making me install them in the new house and buy cheapies for the old.


Matt

 

[semipro]

If you didn't require the reversing function I'd recommend installing a Hunter "Original" and being done with it. However, I don't believe these fans reverse remotely. The Hunter Originals uses a wet oil bath for the bearings in a cast iron motor housing and will outlast the house.

Since you need the ability to reverse the fan remotely I'd suggest you fix the one you have assuming you're happy with it otherwise. A no-name unit from 20 years ago is probably a better fan than 90% of the Chinese-made crap out there today. I have a feeling that if you replace the Casablanca with a cheaper model you may be repeating this exercise again soon.

Now if someone could just build a ceiling fan that doesn't accumulate dust...

 

[d.n.f.]

Hunter finally has some energy star models. Maybe they have been out in the States for awhile but they are just starting to show up in Canada.

 

[backpack09]

Make your self a "tool" out of a long stick so you can flip the direction switch without climbing....

 

[TreePapa]

We have a remote CONtrolled fan in our living room. Fortunately, we only have 8 ft. ceilings, but there was no fixture there before, so it was cheaper and less disruptive to get a fan w/ remote. I don't remember if it's a "lower end" Casablanca or a "higher end" Hunter, but it was from a ceiling fan spec. store and not from Home DopeOh. Had the 'lectrician install it, but when the bleepin' frackin' stoopid remote gave out; I got to replace the part. Fortunately it was under warranty (I think within the first year) and the company sent the part free. It was still not my favorite kind of work to do.

I think the remotes, and the corresponding tech in the unit, are the problem and if you replace your fan with another one with a remote, you may well wind up with the same or similar problem down the road. Personally, I will never buy another remote CONtrolled fan again. Ever. The remote currently does OK controlling the fan, but to CONtrol the light, you've got to take the remote off the wall and walk closer to the fan (like, under it); especially to turn the bleepin' light off for some reason. If and when this fan goes bust, I'll have the 'lectrician install a wall switch. But I don't have a high ceiling, so the reverse switch is not an issue.

I like Backpack's idea. I'd recommend a sectional pole, like the ones sold for paint rollers or window washing, and you only have to fabricate the "tool" on the end (and you can use the pole for other purposes).

Peace,
- Sequoia

 

[seige101]

I hate the damn remote things, always have problems with them. Especially with multiple fans in the same house even if you set them to different codes.

I run a 3-wire up to the fan, and then toss in a fan speed control/light dimmer switch on the wall and am done with it. If people need fancier we can put in 3-way switches.

 

[Highbeam]

I've put in several and the hunters, energy star, have been the quietest running fans so far. You only reverse the motor like twice a year so a tool might be better than being locked into that feature. Ours runs 24/7 on low, 6 watts, all winter long.

 

[Gooserider]

Just as a minor clarification, the Intelli-touch control on the Casablanca IS a wall mount unit that ties into the three wire lead to the fan (Only uses two wires, as I don't have or want lights on the fan for the obvious reason of the issue that bulb changing would be...) I didn't want a discrete remote just because they can get lost to easily... However as Sequoia said, it is the functional equivalent of a remote control, and the "brain" is what failed - not the motor...

The idea of doing a "tool" is not unreasonable, though it is a minor challenge to find extenda-poles that will go that tall (I have a couple that I use for changing the ceiling light bulbs which are about 3' lower, and I still have trouble reaching the bulbs...) and I'm not sure how easy it would be to get a really solid flip on the switch... (it's a little switch and is hidden by the blades...)

Gooserider

 

[struggle]

Goose we have a Casablanca fan and actually sent it back to them in California some where and they refurbished it with new motors and electronics for around $150 a few years ago. This fan actually had some decorative designs on it so that is why we had it refurbished as the fan was 20 years old at that time and did not have the lifetime motor warranty per original booklet we had for the fan. So any how the fan is great and when the power shuts off the lights do not come on like the old electronics did on the old one. So I am happy with that.

Now in the basement we had another one that was not so fancy and it started howling so I dumped that one in favor of a 60" hunter with a remote (does not control reverse function, only speed and lights). This 60 Hunter move a lot more air than the Casablanca ever could.

I know when when I priced a replacement casablanca fan for the upstairs it was like some high price of $800-$1,000. So that is why it was rebuilt.

If you are happy with the fan other than the board I would replace the board and not look back. I would guess it pretty much just unplugs and you are back to normal.

I would say though I doubt I will ever buy a Casablanca fan though as a replacement. I think they are way over priced and after taking them apart there is nothing outstanding in the build of them that I saw other than the wall remote functions which seem to be important to you so fix it.