Owning a ceiling fan can be very beneficial. Not only is a cool addition to any room, it can help reduce power consumption significantly. However, to get the most out of your ceiling fan, it has to be maintained regularly. Here are 5 important maintenance tips for ceiling fans.

Don’t skimp on the oil

A ceiling fan is a machine with many moving parts. Compared to other machines out there, a ceiling fan seems like a simple piece of technology. However, it does not mean you can ignore having a regular maintenance schedule for it. Wherever there are moving parts, there is always going to be friction; it is a scientific fact and ceiling fans are not immune to the laws of physics. Proper lubrication is needed to ensure that friction is at a minimum and does not cause wear and tear on the moving parts. You can use any generic lubricating oil available at home improvement stores. Just be careful to keep the oil away from the electrical wiring. If you have an older ceiling fan, you may have to use grease on certain parts, such as the rubber flywheel.

Think furniture polish is just for furniture? Think again

Furniture polish is great for protecting your wooden furniture and making it look good. Turns out, it’s just as good for your ceiling fan. A layer of furniture polish will prevent dust from sticking to the fan blades. It also provides a nice gleaming coat that makes the ceiling fan look good. Usually, furniture polish is completely safe to be used on materials used to construct fans. However, it is still recommended that you test the polish on a small area before proceeding to polish the rest of the fan; a small sample area on the back of a fan blade should be ideal. For older cast-iron fans, do not forget to apply a coat of anti-rust.

Fan maintenance? The screwdriver is your friend

When it comes to fan maintenance, the screwdriver is definitely the most useful tool in our toolbox. You are going to have to unscrew a number of fasteners to remove the housing and oil the moving parts. Modern ceiling fans are designed for aesthetic perfection and you might have to end up using more than one type of screwdriver to get the job done. Simple wrapping a rag over the pointy end of a screwdriver can also let you access and clean some of the hard-to-reach places in the fan’s motor housing case. Use the screwdriver to tighten the screws that hold the fan blades in place.

Invest in a balancing kit

When your fan starts wobbling like a drunkard, it can become a real nuisance. Not only is it very noisy, it is a legitimate safety hazard. Wobbling is usually caused due to a lack of balance, especially in the blades. The solution to this is to invest in a balancing kit. Fan balancing kits are available in any home improvement stores and come with instructions simple enough for any homeowner to use.

Don’t underestimate the importance of dusting

A simple thing like regular dusting goes a long way to ensure that you ceiling fan works perfectly for a long time to come. If you have very high ceilings, you can always use the extender attachment on your vacuum cleaner to get the job done. All vacuum cleaners come with a special attachment to clean curtains; the same attachment is good enough for the job to clean ceiling fans.

Follow these 5 important tips and your ceiling fans will work great and look god for a very long time.

This is a guest post by Ryan Holdings. He shares details about all the different types of ceiling fans through his blog theceilngfansite.com.