jscott@mandata@uunet.uu.net (Jeff Scott) (06/15/91)
We have a ceiling fan (you know, one of those things near the ceiling with paddle-shaped blades) with a pull-chain speed control, just like normal. It is also controlled (on/off) by a wall switch. I know there are speed controls I can buy that replace the wall switch. Some questions: The method the wall switches use to control the fan's speed must depend on the type of motor in the fan. Do all these fans have the same kind of motor such that I can buy any brand of wall-switch speed control (we're not talking here about light dimmers)? I would guess that you probably have to set the fan on its highest speed (via pull chain) and the speed control (chops the voltage?) to reduce the fan's speed. I also guess that at the fan's highest speed, there is no (voltage chopping?) going on within the fan itself or additional regulation from the wall switch could do some strange stuff. Is this also true for all fans? If the speed control has several speeds, how does the speed-control vendor know that the lowest one is higher than the fan's stall speed? Does the wall switch method put more of a strain on the fan than its internal speed control (which might just work the same way as the wall switch)? I'd hate for the fan to overheat. Does the wall-switch method make the fan's motor noisier? oops - that's a lot of questions! Thanks jeff scott jscott%mandata@uunet.uu.net