I am in the market to buy two large ceiling fans to cycle air within and potentially cool my master bedroom. The room is about 16×27 feet, and it gets pretty hot during spring, summer, and early fall. I have wired both mounts into the ceiling, and tried out a single 52" Harbor Breeze fan in one of them. The fan produced a very audible motor hum, similar to that described in this question, however strait off of my native power. Cranking the fan up to high speed would drown out the sound of the hum, but then I have the fan noise itself to deal with. I've had an electrician come out and check the wiring, and everything is solid according to him.
From a wiring standpoint, I used a Harbor Breeze remote control with the fan, which was nicely designed to fit within and work perfectly with the Harbor Breeze fan itself. Wiring the remote control receiver was a no brainer…every connection was color coded. I did notice, however, that the wires from the fan itself were solid core, where as the wires from the remote receiver were stranded aluminum. I am not sure if this might cause a problem, and introduce motor hum? Having a remote is important (see background below for why.)
I did some searching, and there seem to be a variety of complaints about Harbor Breeze fans and motor hum (and an even broader search indicates that motor hum is not an infrequent problem.) Do ceiling fans of high enough quality, with large enough motors to run the fan silently, actually exist? Is it possible to get a ceiling fan that works with a remote without motor hum?
Background
I have severe sleep issues, one of them being high sensitivity to noise. When its hot, I have even more trouble sleeping, and I expend a considerable amount of money running my air conditioner to keep my home cool during the summer. I am close to desperate to find a way to cool my room without the need to run my air conditioner as much, and ceiling fans seem to be the ideal solution. I've lived in apartments in the past that had truly silent ceiling fans, and I was able to sleep well with them. I'm largely just lacking information and knowledge about what brands I should be looking at, what price point I should be looking at (I think I spent about $200 on the one 52" Harbor Breeze before, from Lowes, but I'm willing to spend twice that or more per fan if it gets me a quiet one without motor hum.)
Given my sleeping issues, I need to be able to turn the fan on or off without getting out of bed. Generally speaking, if I get up once I've finally started to fall asleep, my night is over…I don't sleep at all. I used a remote with the Harbor Breeze, however I think that may have made the motor hum worse…as the wiring of the receiver was really cheap. Are there any known high quality remote receivers that use proper wiring and support the right kind of electric load for a large ceiling fan?
Best Answer
You might look into ceiling fans with DC motors. While I have not seen a manufacturer talk about quietness, some reviews I've read talk about quietness. The biggest attraction to DC motors is the efficiency of the motors, getting more air movement with less power.
My suggestion would be find a local fan / light showroom that has some of these on display that you can try.
Also, fan speed controls have a lot to do with the fan noise. A fully variable wallbox style speed control can cause motor noise, but the fan speed controls that have preset "clicks" that you feel when adjusting are made for quiet operation. I don't know if the remote set you got was matched by the manufacturer or just off the shelf, but that could make a difference.
You also have to remember that some people leave their fans on for a "white noise" effect, which helps them (me) sleep. My wife insists that we keep a floor fan on for the noise. Because of this, when it comes to trouble shooting a loud motor then you might not get as much help as you think you would get.
Again, try a fan specialty shop. The salespeople will know which are quieter and should know more about them than a box store.