HDB Ceiling fan installation (Part 2)

Caught this comic strip on the Straits Times last week.
Advises consumer on the basic checklist on ceiling fan installation.

HDB ceiling fan installation from the Straits Times

Also see

Ceiling Fan installation- our HDB flat

Advantages of ceiling fans

How to check for quality in a ceiling LED light

Making a long living room feel spacious

Choosing Ceiling LED Lighting (How to check and ask for quality)

With the emergence of a large variety of products from the "emerging" economies, (no pun intended) it is sometimes difficult to tell good value for money.

In my context,
Good value for money = fair price + good quality
Fair value for money = high price + high quality OR fair price + fair quality OR cheap price + cheap quality
Poor value for money = fair price + poor quality OR high price + fair quality
In short, you pay for what you get.

After some investigation, we would like to share our 2 cents worth with all the readers.

HDB renovation 2009- Ceiling Light before installation

1. Look for thick plastic

HDB renovation 2009- Ceiling Light, thicker plastic is better

2. Look for Metal hinges (plastic ones will crack after 2 years when you try to remove cover for bulb changing)

HDB renovation 2009- Ceiling Light- ask for metal hinges

3. LED ( aka Light emitting Diodes) are the latest trend in the market. They are energy efficient, requires lasts much longer but are more expensive. We will not cover the details of LED here. But in short, the LED must work with a driver (which converts Singapore Power's AC current to Direct current) The drivers usually fails before the LEDs.

So the trick is to ask for 2 sets of LED with their independent Drivers. If 1 driver fails pre-maturely, the other set is running, so you will not experience a total blackout.
This is of course on top of the warranty!


HDB renovation 2009- In 1 Ceiling light fixture, 2 independent sets of LED (Small squares arranged in a circular fashion) and drivers (the white boxes)

Also read:
Shopping for Lights
Problems with False Ceiling and Lightings
Lighting- cost savings
Lighting Concept

Ceiling Fan Installation (Part 1)

We have shared the benefits of having a ceiling fan in a HDB flat and the choice of ceiling fans was also explained for the readers' benefit. To complete the story on this topic, this post covers the ceiling fan installation process.

1. Preparation and Delivery
a.   Clear a working area below the designated ceiling fan area.
b.   If there is an existing installation to be displaced or removed, plan in advance.
c.   Standby a home ladder if you have one
d.  On the arrival of the fan installer, explain what needs to be done.
e.  Check the delivered items against your order form.

HDB renovation- Ceiling Fan and Ceiling Light delivery

HDB renovation- Check the delivery item to your order document

f.   Prepare some refreshment for the installer. Helps increase the quality of work!

2. Removal of existing installation (if any)
a. Plan beforehand if this installation (eg lighting or old ceiling fan) is going to be used else where or to be disposed of.

HDB renovation- Removal of Existing Lighting

b. By briefing the installer when he arrives, he can plan his sequence of works effectively. You can also negotiate for disposal into your purchase.

HDB renovation- Preparing the Lighting for disposal

3. Anchor Bolt
a.   Check the instruction manual for the recommended number of bolts required
b.   Most ceiling fans will recommended at least 3 to 4 secure bolts per fan. Note that the bolt is only considered secured if the bolt-nut can be tightened with increasing resistance.

HDB renovation- Installing the Anchor Bolts for the Ceiling Fan

c.   There is also a minimum spacing between all bolts, including those from the previous installation.
d.   Most experienced installers will know how to reduce dust using paper and plastic bags. However, it cannot be 100%.

4. Assembly and installation (Ceiling fan and Ceiling lights)
a.   Take the chance to check that the parts are new and in good condition.

HDB renovation- Ceiling Fan Assembly

HDB renovation- Ceiling Fan Assembly, LED light kit add-on

b.   Most fans would include a safety lock mechanism that would prevent the fan from falling in case of failure and would stop the motor spinning.

HDB renovation- Ceiling Fan mounting onto the bracket (in black)

5. Testing
a.   Try out all the fan speeds, light kits and remote controls.
b.   Go through and clarify the warranty card as required.
c.   Ask the technician for his name and direct contact number. In case of any troubleshooting, at least you will be talking to the same guy.

In case anyone is interested, we bought our ceiling fan and ceiling lights from, drop me an email.
Service was good and prompt.

Also read:
How to Choose a Ceiling Fan
Ceiling Fan Comparison Chart
Advantages of a Ceiling Fan
Shopping for Lightings

Ceiling Fan comparison Chart

This is a follow through article after research on the general considerations in choosing a ceiling fan. If you have not read it, the link is here (coming soon)

Unique to our needs, we have summarized our requirements as follows:
1. Size of fan in accordance to the room size.
2. Ceiling height about 2.3m. We cannot afford a low hanging fan.
3. High Aesthetics is important to satisfy my better half's requirement
4. Light kit is a must!

Guided by the above requirements we visited 7 showrooms over 2 weekends and shortlisted 5 options as follows:
1. Crestar Rainlite
2. Crestar Skylite
3. Fanco FF707
4. Acron Ventieulator 218
5. Vento Mela distributed by Amasco

You can probably guess our final choice from the photos below. For the benefit of the readers, we still want to share the selection process. Our 2 weeks of fact finding and comparison has been summarized into the following comparison chart.
Note that the Fanco FF707 specs are from our living room ceiling fan purchased in 2009. Read the review here (coming soon!)

Comparison Discussions with the sellers:

1. Crestar Fans offer great value with their Aluminium cased motors. Aluminium releases heat well and does not rust. One seller explained that Crestar used German Technology, built in Taiwan. I loved their functional appeal. Unfortunately, its aesthetics did not appeal to my better half.

HDB Renovation Ceiling Fan- Crestar Rainlite

HDB Renovation Ceiling Fan- Crestar Skylite

2. Fanco has a competitive price (at least in 2009 when we bought it)  This is a good choice for something decent looking but on a tight budget. The have very similar design to Amasco. Read our review on our Fanco FF707 here (coming soon)

HDB Renovation Ceiling Fan- Fanco FF707 WH

3. Although we have never heard of the Acorn brand, but we asked extensively about it as we found the unit on display elegant. The motor body is largely hidden by the light kit.  The seller explained that Taiwan makes the "best" ceiling fans. He explained that several ceiling fan marketing companies that have their products OEMed by the same few Taiwanese factory. Thus they have the same quality despite the different brands. Acorn is one of them.

HDB Renovation Ceiling Fan- Acorn Ventilateur 218

4. Vento's Mela really caught our hearts. See here to understand why. It remained our 1st choice until the last minute when we realized the price tag was sufficient to purchase 3 standard ceiling fans. There was also an unfounded doubt on the ease of maintenance and lifespan of the  blade rotation bearings.

HDB Renovation Ceiling Fan- Vento Amasco Mela

5. KDK is a household brand I grew up with. However we did not consider KDK as they did not provide much options with lighting kits. Perhaps another reason is our choice of showrooms did not promote KDK aggressively.


The most balanced choice was the Acorn.


Also see
Advantages of installing a Ceiling Fan
How to choose a Ceiling Fan
Installing a ceiling fan

How to choose a ceiling fan

How to Choose a Ceiling Fan

From our research, generally the key recommended considerations are the room size, ceiling height and lighting kits.

1.  Room size: 44” or 54” sized fans?

Firstly, the measurement of the fan sized we were told is NOT measured from the diameter of blade tip spinning path. It was rather complicated and we gave up trying to understand it. If anyone knows please let us know. As recommended by several sellers, for optimal performance:

For room size below 100 square feet 

(typical old HDB 4R common bedroom) - use size around 44”

For room size 100 to 200 square feet 

(typical old HDB 4R master bedroom) - use size around 50”

For room size 200 to 350 square feet 

(typical old HDB 4R living & dining room) - use at least 54”

2.   Ceiling Height

Standard HDB ceiling height are less than generous. Unless the ceiling fan is mounted above a non-walking path eg dining table or bed, the choices are pretty limited. For low ceilings there are a few low profile and flush mount fans available in the market. One of the smallest one we found is the KDK M11SU

3.   Light Kits

Some ceiling fans models come with light kits and most have optional add-on options. It is a good way to mount one more light in the room and saves the cost of an extra light point.

With this in mind, check out our

Ceiling fan comparison chart

Lighting Concepts
False ceiling and Lights

Also see:

Advantages of installing Ceiling Fans

Choosing an air-conditioner (coming soon)

Installing the ceiling fan (coming soon)

Advantages of installing Ceiling Fans

Why we had a ceiling fan in the Bed room.

Room ventilation generated by ceiling fans can make the ambiance feel cooler by a few degrees. This is something standing and wall fans are not designed to achieve.

When applied intelligently together with air-conditioning, it can help to save electricity consumption. This was how I convinced my wife the savings without doing a laboratory test:

When using the air con with ceiling fan, this 2 additional steps were applied:

1.   Set the thermostat on the aircon to 3 to 5 DegC above the preferred ambiance temperature. For example, if you are used to sleeping at 20DegC, set the aircon thermostat to 25DegC.

2.   Set the auto off-timer on the aircon to 3 hours before your wake up time. For example, if user sleeps at 10pm and wakes up at 6am. Set the aircon auto off-timer to 3am.

	Thermostat set on air con	Air con Operating hrs	Fan operating hrs	Energy consumption per month (KWhr)	Estimated cost savings (April 2013 SP rates 26.7c/kWhr)
Aircon (2.5KW) only	20DegC	8hrs	0hrs	2.5KWx8hrsx30days= 600KWhr	S$ 160
Aircon (2.4W)+ ceiling fan (0.08W)	25DegC	5hrs	8hrs	2.4KWx5hrsx30days + 0.08KWx8hrsx30days = 380KWhr	S$ 102
					S$ 58 per month per room

Assumptions:

(A) Assume 0.1kM savings from thermostat temperature difference of 5DegC.
(B) Typical 1 air con blower from a system operating at 8,540BTU/hr = 2.5kW
(C) Typical ceiling fan power consumption = 60W to 90W (costing about S$300 to purchase)
(D) Estimated electrical consumption = Input (kW) X No. of hours used X No. of days per month X Current Utility Rate

The choice seems clear! Conservatively, even if the real difference is only half of the calculated, the electrical tariff savings will pay for the ceiling fans in 10 months! The only exception I can think of is if users cannot sleep in a “windy” environment due to arthritis.

Disclaimer: We are not trained electrical engineers. The above is a heartlander trying to make sense of the small things in life. Apply at your own risk! If there are any experts out there who can correct or verify this, please leave a kind comment.

Also see

How to Choose a Ceiling Fan

Our Ceiling Fan Comparison

Choosing air-conditioner (coming soon)
Installing Ceiling Fan (coming soon)
Cost savings from using LED lights (coming soon)
Lighting-concept-cost-savings

Lighting Concept- Cost Savings

Cost Comparison

Option 1 Costing:   Our ID's proposal for down lights and cove lights and false ceiling

Original ID with Down Lights and False Ceiling

Install partial false ceiling and light holder (living room and 3 bedrooms) = S$1,730
Lay electrical lighting points: 42nos x S$30ea = S$1,260
Installing lights (labout only): 42 nos x S$8 = S$336
Purchase down lights/ cove florescent tube: 42nos x S$15= S$630
TOTAL COST: S$3,956


Option 2 Costing:  Traditional way of mounting lightings directly on ceiling or wall

Lay electrical lighting points: 22nos x S$30ea = S$660
Installing lights (labout only): 22 nos x S$8 = S$176
Purchase lights and 3nos. of chandelier: S1,700
Supply and install Cornice: S$330
Increase budget for ceiling fan with lights: S$100
TOTAL COST: S$2,766

Overall savings Option 2 over Option 1 = S$990
End Result...

Also see Shopping for lights
Also see Lighting concept
Also see False ceiling and Lighting

Lighting Concept- Living Room

The approach to the lighting concept was to have a "functional lighting" and a "mood lighting".

Functional light 

1. Choice of white light for reading on the sofa

2. With a ceiling fan and no downlights or cove lights (see why here) we opted to choose a ceiling fan with built-in light to reduce the spinning shadow effect caused by the light located above the fan blades.

Mood Lights

1. Choice of yellow light

2. Can be used as a night light during the childrens' quiet time before bed.

3. Installed through wall mounted and ceiling mounted chandlers.

Also see Shopping for lighting 

The cost savings of converting from down lights/cove lights to the above lighting concept can be found here.

False ceiling & Lightings

During the proposal stage, our ID convinced us to install a false ceiling to hide the lighting (Down light and L-lighting) in the ceiling depth. You can see the dismantling of the existing false ceiling and its steel frame.

Interface between Down light, L-light and the false ceiling

Typical Down light

Typical Down light (operable for bulb replacement)

We had some doubts about the proposal as

1. We will loose 150mm of headroom and the

2. L-lighting (aka cove lights) would be difficult to maintain.

3. The above system also required a lot of  lighting points.

For you information, 1 lighting point is required for each independent wiring requirement. That simply means each bulb, fluorescent lamp will require 1 point. Also note it is also subject to the definition of your contract. Mine was charged at about S$30 per point.

However, my better half was so bought over by the romantic ambiance the reflected light would bring, that we budgeted for it in the quotation.

Fortunately for our budget, while searching for the lighting, my wife fell in love with hanging chandeliers that require every inch of headroom available. We finally decided to swap the false ceiling plus approx 30 lighting points for 3 spectacular hanging chandeliers, 2 wall lights and 1 ceiling fan with light. That result in nett saving of almost S$1000.

Without the false ceiling, the wiring's will be covered by the cornice and typical electric capping.

Cornice helps to conceal wires in the absence of a false ceiling

Also see
Lighting Concept- cost saving
Lighting Concept- Living Room
Choosing ceiling LED lighting how to ask for Quality
Shopping for lighting