Advises consumer on the basic checklist on ceiling fan installation.
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| HDB ceiling fan installation from the Straits Times |
Also see
Showing posts with label fan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fan. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
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.
Also see
Advises consumer on the basic checklist on ceiling fan installation.
Also see
Monday, September 16, 2013
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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 |
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| 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.
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| HDB renovation- Ceiling Fan Assembly |
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| 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.
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| 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
Sunday, May 19, 2013
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.
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)
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.
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.
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
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!)
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 |
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| 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 |
 |
| 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 |
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
Also see:
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.
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
Choosing air-conditioner (coming soon)
Installing Ceiling Fan (coming soon)
Cost savings from using LED lights (coming soon)
Lighting-concept-cost-savings
Installing Ceiling Fan (coming soon)
Cost savings from using LED lights (coming soon)
Lighting-concept-cost-savings
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
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.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Shopping for Lightings
We had a simple lighting plan. These are those we selected.
Also see
Lighting Concept- cost saving
Lighting Concept- Living Room
Choosing a ceiling light- How to ask for good quality
Ceiling fan comparison chart
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| Simple energy Saving Bulb with Holder for Toilets and Store Rooms |
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| Cubic with yellow lighting for corridors |
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| Ceiling hung Chandiler |
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| Ceiling fan with lights |
Lighting Concept- cost saving
Lighting Concept- Living Room
Choosing a ceiling light- How to ask for good quality
Ceiling fan comparison chart
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