Fan of sorrow

I did not expect to have so many issues with a ceiling fan. The only things I was looking for were: (a) a modern look, (b) a wall control, and (c) a price tag within a budget of $300. Didn't care about a remote. Or a ceiling fan light. Or smart home features. Just a more or less modern look and a wall control. Was it too much to ask?

The answer is: apparently, yes. First, I could not find a modern-looking fan with replaceable light bulbs. For some reason, manufacturers prefer integrated LED lighting which once broken would require a $50-$100 replacement (instead of a $5 replacement). And it's in the best-case scenario (if the light fixture is replaceable and not discontinued). Fine, as I said, I did not care about fan lighting to begin with (since there are already ceiling lights in place). So, can I find something with a wall control, since I went into a trouble of prewiring electrical outlets?

The answer is: apparently, no. Most fans these days come with a remote control. Okay, remote control it is. So I ordered a cheap, decent-looking fan with good reviews from Amazon, but it was somehow lost during delivery. Then I found the Emerson Zeke fan that looked pretty decent and, guess what: it came with a wall control.

The problems started from the installation. First, this was not really a wall control. It was just a remote that could be installed into a wall outlet, but it communicated with the fan via a radio signal instead of the wires (the only benefit of this thing being a wall control was no need for using a battery, since it was powered by the wire). But that was just the beginning. After messing with it for a while my contractor and electrician could not figure out how to make it work.

The guys told me that they tested the connections and there was no power going where it was supposed to go, so they assumed the control was defective. I requested a replacement, but it would not come in time before the inspection, so as a workaround, I bought a generic remote (YUKIHALU 3-in-1 Small Size Universal Ceiling Fan Remote Control Kit with Light and Timing), and it worked fine. I got a replacement control, but at that point, I did not want to mess with it anymore.

As a side note, I have a suspicion that it may not be a problem with the wall control to begin with. I kind of suspect that the original issue was caused by the two-pole electrical connection I covered earlier. According to the manual, the two-pole installation required two controls and I only had one. I may be totally wrong and at this point I don't care, but when I'm in the mood for electrical challenges, I will test this theory and post an update. For now, I just want to remind to everyone:

KIDS, DO NOT INSTALL TWO-POLE ELECTRICAL SWITCHES, UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO! THEY WILL GIVE YOU NOTHING BUT TROUBLE.

Unfortunately, this was not the end of my problems because then came the wobbling. It wasn't too bad, but it was sufficient enough to bother me (and others agreed).

I had a similar problem with a ceiling fan in my primary house and no matter what I did, I could not balance it, so I was not very hopeful and was considering returning the fan, but eventually I was able to balance it to a more acceptable level:

In case you are interested, I found out that the end of one blade was higher than the rest, so I put two weights from the balancing kit on the end of the opposite blade and, to my surprise, it helped:

NEXT: NOT THAT RANGE

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FIRST: INTRODUCTION