Any electricians in here?

[exhi2]

I'm having a problem with a new ceiling fan emitting a burnt rubber/plastic smell when the light is on. It doesn't smell if just the fan is on. We removed the rubber bands from the sconces(sp?) meant to reduce vibration, and that seemed great for a while. Turned the power and light back on and the smell came back after half an hour or so. Did we melt some of the rubber band on the glass?
I believe it's wired correctly. It has two sets of romex in the ceiling box, one as a power source and the other to the light switch. Did I cross the wires? Would the fan/light even work if I did? Did I accidentally drop something into the motor?
Also, if our radio is on and we pull the fan on, the radio makes a momentary noise. We never noticed this with our old ceiling fan.
Any advice? We'd rather not call in an electrician, but if we need to....

 

[Nightbird]

Ok first I am not a Licensed Electrician what I am about to say is just an opinion and not an expert opinion. If your house burns down or something happens it's not my fault.

It's a brand new out of the box unit right? There could be a new smell still coming out of it. Factory coatings extra oil etc so forth.. That kinda thing is normal.

If your worried about it then run it for half an hour then turn the light off and feel the motor if there is heat there is something wrong. If it's just the bulbs that are hot then your probably good.

 

[exhi2]

That's what I'm hoping. Didn't notice any heat, and my head and hands have been all over the unit and connections.
I did search around online for answers before I asked here, and saw something saying to remove the rubber bands, and the next thing I found disputed that idea. I still like it though, yet it makes me nervous. Thanks for the help, and reassurance.

 

[Nightbird]

Your welcome

 

[TBKahuna123]

I am also not a licensed electrician, but I used to play on in the theater. If you are not smelling it when the fan is on by itself, and it only happens when the light turns on, then I would bet it is the light. That's just deductive reasoning. Could you have the wires crossed? Possible, but chances are it wouldn't work if you did. Most of the time, assuming the wiring in your house is modern, a crossed wire will result in a breaker being thrown before it results in a fire. Now something could be overheating, but with a regular light fixture, that's pretty unlikely.

Does it only happen if the light has been on for a bit, say long enough for the bulb to heat up? If so, then try this. Remove the bulb and the globe or whatever from the light. Replace it with a brand new bulb and turn it on. If it doesn't smell, then you'll know it's something on the old buld or the globe that is heating up, and I'd try cleaning the globe. If not, then you probably have a bigger problem inside.

What concerns me though is the noise on the radio. This points to a gounding problem. Make sure that you have all the grounding wires connected securely on the fixture. I doubt this would cause the smell, but it would certainly cause the noise.

Again, I'm not an electrician, but I have some basic knowledge. These are things I would try as I'm deducing a problem, but if you aren't comfortable with that risk, call an electrician. Better safe than sorry.

 

[exhi2]

I'll double check that in the morning. There's no light here anymore. Our house has modern circuts and all, but in our remodel process I have found a few mistakes in the ground wires. So that's most likely a good place to start.
Thanks for the help, expecially if you're one of those crazy goalies.

 

[Weird Harold]

I'm having a problem with a new ceiling fan emitting a burnt rubber/plastic smell when the light is on. It doesn't smell if just the fan is on.

Another "not a profesional" here.

First, the smell problem:

If you installed a brass fan, there is a plastic coating on the brass parts of the fan -- including the sconces for the light. Some smell is going to be normal when the plastic heats up from the light bulb being on -- it will go away after a day or two as the volitile component of the plastic coating evaporates..

The sconces are probably ony rated for forty or sixty watt bulbs if they use standard full-size bulbs -- putting higher wattage bulb in those fixtures will increase the normal hot plastic odor and may actually be burning the plastic coating -- check to make sure you've got the right wattage bulbs in the fixture. Changing over to energy-saving flourescent bulbs will give you more light with less heat if the rated size bulbs give too little light.

Second, the radio static problem:

I think the static problem sounds like the fan doesn't have a "brushless" motor in it. An electric motor that isn't brushless -- i.e. has carbon brushes that contact the rotor to power it -- will emit a breif burst o broadband static when it starts up, especially when it's new and the brushes aren't "worn-in." If the static isn't constant when the fan is running, I wouldn't worry about it. If it IS constant, or gets worse instead of better, I'd contact the manufacturer for advice.