Been looking at ceiling fans.

Just a nice basic 5 blade fan.  Looks like all of them marked "inside use" have blades made of mdf.

Fans rated for outside use have blades made of abs.

We have one fan in the house now with mdf blades - in the kitchen - and they droop.  Maybe this is from moisture, or maybe 'cause they are mdf?

Will mdf blades start to droop after awhile even in dry rooms?

Cal

Edited November 20, 20178 yr by Ron Dudelston
tags added

Great question Cal, and I don't have an answer but I can tell you my own experience. In the past my wife and I have purchased nice big fancy fans with big long blades, and they drooped over time. We've owned a couple homes since we been married and the last home we installed a big blade fan in our kitchen, and they drooped. We bought the big fans because we figured, hey, bigger blade, more wind! After learning from experience, we finally figured out that it's not the size of blade really, it's the distance the fan is installed from the ceiling. The more distance you can put between the fan and the ceiling, the more wind you get. So we have purchased small blade fans and used the longer extension the fans come with, and we now have no droop, and we have wind.

You may have known that little trick already, but I figured I'd get out there for anyone else who did not.

Except for bathrooms and closets, we have a fan in every room. They all have 52" blades. None have drooped. Could be the dry climate?? 

We originally installed HD's builder's specials. They began failing after two summers. Too soon to droop. Replaced them with Hunters. Their blades look and feel like hard board. 

43 minutes ago, clhyer said:

Will mdf blades start to droop after awhile even in dry rooms

yes...

MDF can't hold it's self up...

Years back I replaced all the blades of one of our fans with real wood. I used some Luan ply I had on hand and I took one of the old blades and used it as a router template. One of the blades from the older set broke, don't ask, it's embarrassing, so instead of purchasing a whole new fan I replace all the blades. Worked pretty nicely I might add!

19 minutes ago, Stick486 said:

yes...

MDF can't hold it's self up...

I fully agree with Stick!

FWIW, the blades on most, if not all, fans can be reversed, some even have two different colours so you can change the look. If you flip them every year, they'll stay fairly straight a lot longer.

John

I will just through this out - if the blades are drooping, reverse the fan so the air is going up and they will stop drooping. Just saying...

To tell the truth, I don't know if our fan blades are wood, plastic, or mystery meat.   I put this Emerson up about 25 years ago in the cathedral ceiling at the top of the stairs...   i just looked and they're not drooping at all.   Of course, we had to look around for this fan as most of the fans on the market had teeny tiny wires that i didn't think would carry the juice for the fan, not to mention the attached lights...   Been a very good fan (thank you Emerson )

 

I know, i probably just doomed it. 

Thanks for the replies.  I had not thought about making new blades with some luan plywood.  I did check one of our older fans in the house.  52" fan with no drooping - blades are luan.

This knowledge will allow me to expand my search.

Fans have a CFM rating.  The flat blades are lowest and the twisted ones are highest.  

Like others 52 is our largest and we are happy and no noticeable droop.  It was not the cheepest on but not the best either.

Do some more research then buy.

 

On 1/16/2017 at 8:57 AM, John Morris said:

Years back I replaced all the blades of one of our fans with real wood. I used some Luan ply I had on hand and I took one of the old blades and used it as a router template. One of the blades from the older set broke, don't ask, it's embarrassing, so instead of purchasing a whole new fan I replace all the blades. Worked pretty nicely I might add!

  I did the same thing but with oak plywood.   They were better balanced than the originals.   No sagging after many years.   Roly