Ceiling fans

[mickey house]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

Didn't know it was possible to fit ourselves. The living room has this light fitting, do you think we'd be able to have a fan with it?

See more...

Shouldn't be a problem having a fan fitted provided as above there is a decent fixing for it.

Some DIYERs do lots of jobs like this and can do a good job, whereas others do a bodge job electrically and also not properly supporting the fan above. Apart from the obvious dangers of people doing electrical work with limited knowledge, the reality of a big heavy fan not being properly fitted is that it could fall down.

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by mickey house

Usually an electrician fits them. I have fitted quite a few for people, and apart from initially ensuring the wiring is okay, the important thing is to ensure they are properly fixed to the ceiling. Some people rely on them being just fitted to a plasterboard ceiling with no nogging (wooden supprt) to hold them in place, and they might be fine but I wouldn't rely on them only being fixed to a plasterboard ceiling as they can weigh a far amount plus with their movement it could weaken their plasterboard fixing. An electrician won't have a problem doing this for you.

See more...

Actually no idea what our ceilings are made of. Its a 50s ex council house so if anything it seems built too solidly! Trying to drill into the walls is a pain in the butt

Absolutley need them to be safe thanks for the advice as usual

[AlexE]

We have had a ceiling fan for many years and to be fair I can't remember the last time we used it even with the best of last year. They are very heavy though. We dont even use the light as we usually have a side light on.

Just being lazy about getting rid of it.

[djewkes]

We have one in the conservatory, when it’s hot it makes no difference whatsoever, tried a variety of fans with mixed results, best was a large desk top fan with 2 dual controlled fans, looks like a ghetto blaster but very effective...
But best of all has been air conditioning in the living room...

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by djewkes

We have one in the conservatory, when it’s hot it makes no difference whatsoever, tried a variety of fans with mixed results, best was a large desk top fan with 2 dual controlled fans, looks like a ghetto blaster but very effective...
But best of all has been air conditioning in the living room...

See more...

What kind of air con do you have in the living room? One of those portable units or did you get it properly installed?

[Hermione]

I have Aircon in my bedroom and it's the best money I ever spent. It's a portable one because we can't decide which bedroom we like!

[djewkes]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

What kind of air con do you have in the living room? One of those portable units or did you get it properly installed?

See more...

I had it properly installed, I did try a portable one but to be honest it didn’t work for us and blew out warm air and I don’t think it was big enough for our living room. The properly fitted one cost us in the region of £900 but it has been worth every penny, it can also blow out warm air if it’s cold... my DH is always warm so we use it a lot...

[mickey house]

I agree with djewkes that the proper air con units are great. We also tried portable ones with no success. We have them in the 3 bedrooms and they do come in handy especially in the loft bedroom as that gets so warm.

I also have one in my mancave because as djewkes mentioned they double up as heaters so as my mancave is used all year round its cool in the hot weather and warm in the cold.

This is the one in my mancave which is just below the ceiling so non intrusive (forgive the picture quality). This is the biggest one because it's the biggest area (the ones in the bedrooms are smaller).

[SquishTheWhale]

Every year we look at the portable air con units for around £2-300 but there just seems to be so many people saying they don't work. I was hoping ceiling fans would be a solution but maybe not!

[mickey house]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

Every year we look at the portable air con units for around £2-300 but there just seems to be so many people saying they don't work. I was hoping ceiling fans would be a solution but maybe not!

See more...

I personally wouldn't recommend a portable air con unit to anyone. Some ceiling fans are cheap and aren't so great, but a half decent one fitted properly can be good. An alternative is a fan you fit on the wall and it just plugs into a socket so no electrical work required.