Ceiling fans...before you buy!

A ceiling fan is a wonderful addition to almost any room in your home. Besides looking attractive, they are energy effecient, helping to distribute the warm (in winter) and cool (in summer) air that is produced by your homes heatingand cooling system. The gentle air currents they create also help to keep your home from feeling stuffy, and most ceilling fans have a light kit available which makes an excellent central source of illumination for any room. Ready to go shopping? Well, almost! You need to get out a measuring tape and a ladder first!
Check your room size
You can purchase a variety of sizes and styles from ultra modern to traditional, and blade spans rangingfrom 24 to 72 inches, although themost gemon size is in the 54" range. Your room size will dictate which size will work best for you, as even the smaller fans can be designed to move air very efficiently.
The seven foot rule for safety
Take a measuring tape and measure from the floor to seven feet. Your ceiling fan blades should go no lower than this point, ever. Your local building code may be even higher than this, so do check! If you have eight foot ceilings, this means you are pretty much limited to flush mount or hugger ceiling fans (no down rod)
Is there a ceiling fan rated junction box installed?
Check your junction box where you are going to have your fan installed. There should be a metal box which is stamped as rated for a ceiling fan installation. They are almost always a metal box, although I have seen an occaional heavy gauge nylon/plastic type material box stamped this way. It should feel solid as a rock when you try to manoever it (turn the room circuit breaker off and be careful of those wires before you attempt this step!) If there isn't an approved electrical junction box installed where you are planning to install your fan you are going to need to install one (if you are clever and handy) or call an electrician and have one installed (highly regemended as worth the money if you have any doubts, or are unsure about your general house wiring)
Switches and wiring
Speaking of wiring, ideally you have a three wire switch leg (red, black, white and ground) running to your junction box, and two switches to operate your fan so you can switch the fan on and off separately from the light. Ask your electrician if you are not sure.
If you have a light dimmer switch already installed for an existing light you will need to replace it with either a standard switch or a special fan speed control switch. The rheostat contol on a standard light dimmer will damage your fan, so move it (or have it moved) elsewhere.
Get a great quality fan
If you go to a store that sells ceiling fans for say, $29.99, stand there and listen for a minute. I will bet you will hear a lot of noise, clicks and squeaks and rattles. Now look. I bet a lot of the fans on display are wobbling like crazy. I've heard a lot of people say" oh well, it won't do that when it's balanced". Guess what? A good fan doesn't need to be balanced, and probably just as well ! You wouldn't want to pay a professional electrician an extra hours labor so he or she can fiddle with little metal weights and pennies and tape. And hey, what happens when the tape or adhesive dries out? Then the weight goes ricocheting across the room!If you have a decent fan and it starts to wobble, almost always its because something needs to be tightened, usually the little set screws at the top and bottom of the downrod.
Check out the features
remote controls You can control all of the features of your fan(on/off, speed, light brightness)with a remote if you buy one that has this feature. I would just lose it, or forget to put a battery in it, but I've installed a lot for people who love them. If you buy a remotely controlled fan make sure you give that the remote kit to whoever is installing your fan before they start the installation, and they will love you. Most remotes have a part which wires directly in at the junction box, and is one of the very first steps of the installation.
Longer downrods These can look very elegant in a high ceilinged room, Just don't get carried away (remember the seven foot rule) and also keep in mind that the longer the downrod , the more tendency there is for the fan to sway ( which is not the same as wobble.. this is aerodynamics at work)
Light kits There are some beautiful designs available, and you can actually change out the light kit of many manufacturers fans quite easily without being an electrician. Look for the type that have a nylon/plastic snap connector for the wiring harness if you would like to take advantage of this feature. (Youalmost neverneed to take the fan down to upgrade the light kit, even without the snap connectors.)
I hope my pointers help! Have fun shopping for your ceiling fan!