MY HUNTER ORIGINAL RUNS THRU AN ORDINARY WALL SWITCH. IT HAS HI AND LO SPEEDS ON THE HOUSING, BUT EVEN LO SPEED IS A BIT TOO FAST AT TIMES... HOW CAN I CONTROL THE SPEED THRU FULL RANGE... A RHEOSTAT DIMMER? Jim McGill

Jim,

You have a special fan there. Hunter Originals are my specialty.

There are two ways to accomplish a slower speed with this fan.

1. A wall variable speed control, solid state, rated for 3 or more amps, regular fan controls will not work as your fan draws 2.5amps on high, not even new ones that are labeled for the Original.

2. Retrofit the fan to make it a three speed. If you're good with wiring, it's really simple. What you need is, a standard 3 speed pull chain switch, not a double pole one like cheaper/new fans have that use capacitor speed control, we are using cap. speed control, but not the same way they do. So you want an "SP3T" switch. You also need an 9 10 or 11 or 12 MFD capacitor (depending on how fast you want your low to be 8 is 20rpm, 11 is 75 approximately). You will remove the switch cap to your fan, and you will find your switch has a black, blue and red wire connected to it. Remove all wires, attach the black to L on your new switch, attach blue to 1, then you need 2 extra pieces of wire. Stick one wire in 2 and the second wire in 3. Now, get your capacitor and hook one side of it to the red wire and position 2, then hook the other side to the wire you put in position three.

Remember to get the Single pole switch for non capacitor speed control fans, if you get the double pole, both winding sets in your fan will be activated, which will draw double current and burn your motor out.


Also, are you aware that your fan uses oil (like an engine) ? and is not permanently lubricated?