How to Replace a Ceiling Fan

Like I said before, our fan is finally up! So now here is the post to attempt to show you how to replace a ceiling fan like we did. First, you need to pick the fan you want.

Unpack the box and MAKE SURE you have everything, especially the directions. I forgot to take a picture of this part. There is usually a lot of pieces because most fans come with a few options for mounting (we chose a flush mount because we don’t have very high ceilings). Secondly, you need to take out your old ceiling fan. Usually you can do this pretty quickly by unscrewing the top from the housing. Keep the old housing on there unless the instructions tell you differently.

Then, hook the base of the fan onto the side of the housing unit. Connect the main wires.  Make sure the grounding wire is connected to the grounding rod.

The blue wire is the lights. That is for the lights. Some fans don’t have this because they don’t have a lighting fixture attached. Once all of the wires are attached, screw the base onto the housing. This took me standing on the coffee table holding the base in place while Jason screwed it together.

Notice the faded ceiling? I did fix this afterwards because I was too impatient beforehand and we only had so much sunlight to work with (we did this directly after working – notice Jason’s wonderful True Value polo).

Here is a shot of the unit hanging from the housing hook.

The second part of the fan holds the wiring for the blades and the lights. It is WAY more tricky. Thankfully Jason did this easily. Once the wires were twisted together, we screwed the blades onto the base. Then the light fixture was screwed in and the lightbulbs placed properly.

Much easier than we thought it would be. Here is the finished product with a new splash of ceiling paint over the dingy, faded part.

And there you have it! So don’t worry if it looks too complex. A ceiling fan is very manageable to replace on your own!