[SML] Ceiling Fans on Battens

[Michael Powers]

Thomas (Tom) Marhenke" <tmarhenk at hamilton.edu> Wrote:

<<.....Working on a show and the designer would like to mount 2 ceiling
fans,
each, onto 3 battens.  He wants 96" industrial fans.  I am concerned about
the battens moving with the fans and the down pipe on the fan causing
issues.  The battens have to move in and out. >>

IF, IF, you exhaust all other alternatives and absolutely have to have the
fans and they must be moving, consider the following steps:
1.  Hard mount the stem (down pipe) to the batten with a “C” clamp, truss
clamp or other rigid mount to reduce sway, swing or bounce.  If the stem
does not hang directly below the batten, a second clamp at each position
with a “counterweight” might be needed to prevent batten roll and an
upstage/downstage angle on the fan drop stem.
2.  If the fans have forward/reverse switches, set the fans on each batten
to rotate in opposite directions.  If they do not have direction switches,
have a competent person to adjust the wiring on half the fans.
3.  Bend or twist or otherwise “adjust” the blade brackets to achieve a
zero degree blade angle.
4.  Balance each fan if/as needed to reduce wobble. A 3/4”-1/4”20 stove
bolt is one possible method.
5.  If side sway is still experienced, diagonal braces to the batten may be
necessary.  Either hard, such as 1/2” conduit, or “soft” such as 16” GAC
will work.
6.  Speed control is a must, both individually and collectively.  Perform
trial runs with both side and vertical masking in place.  Check with HVAC
on and off. Adjust and correct as needed.

Hope this helps.




-- 
Michael Powers
USMC ’66-’68
ETCP cert. rigger #820 (ret’d)
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