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I've installed a 52" Hampton Fan with light, (w/out remote) in my bedroom. When it is set on low the fan appears very stable. At high speed the ceiling fan shakes and does so to a lessor extent on medium.

I've always heard that fans are not supposed to shake or wobble on any speed. Is that true? Is there something I can do to make it more stable? Or am I concerned about a non issue?

The fan I replaced had the same issue. The only similarity between the two ceiling fans is that the canopies do not fit tightly against the ceiling.

I installed a 52" ceiling fan with a remote, with lights, in my Den and it does not shake or wobble at any speed. The canopy is a very tight fit against the ceiling.

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    Is the fan mounted to a ceiling box that's rated to support a fan? I once replaced a ceiling fan that had started to wobble, it was old so I just bought a new fan. When I took the old one down, I discovered that it was mounted on a non-fan rated, standard plastic ceiling light box which had cracked under the weight of the fan, so it wasn't providing adequate support, and the other half of the box was developing a crack... it was only a matter of time before the whole thing cracked and the fan came down.
    – Johnny
    Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 6:45
  • I had a fan mounted near the peak of a vaulted ceiling on about a 4 foot pole. I was never able to get it to stabilize, when it was blowing up in the winter, because the fan bounced air off the angled surfaces back onto the fan. Took me a while to figure that one out.
    – sborsher
    Commented Oct 21, 2015 at 19:45

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Inexpensive ceiling fans are often poorly balanced. Poor balance is most obvious on high speed and sometimes not evident at low speed. Many vendors sell "Ceiling Fan Balancing Kits" which consist of a temporary weight clip that can be moved around until the fan is balanced via trial and error, and then permanent weights that are glued or stuck in place. The weights need to be well adhered or they can fling off unexpectedly.

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    Some fan manufacturers recommend switching two opposite blades. That method has worked for me in the past.
    – scs217
    Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 15:43
  • What a great idea, I wish I had heard that before I went around measuring all the fan blades according to one spot on the ceiling
    – nycide
    Commented Oct 22, 2015 at 22:30
  • While I was scheming how I might balance the blades without a trip to the hardware store my wife dusted off the tops. Apparently that was all it needed. The fan hadn't been used in so long enough dust accumulated to throw off the balance.
    – Patrick McElhaney
    Commented Jun 11, 2017 at 22:05
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One reason fan's wobble is that they are not balanced properly. According to the installation guide pick a spot on the ceiling and measure each fan blade tip to see if each measures exactly the same.

If they don't then either loosen or tighten the screws that hold the fan blade to the fan motor. The ceiling fan should also come with a balancing kit.

I had to tighten two of the blade fans and once I did that, the wobble was gone.

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