The Ceiling Fan Project

The Haiku Ceiling Fan from Big Ass Fans Project and Review

Due to my wife having suffered a knee injury and me having to double as home handyman and in home care nurse for her, this project took several days as I have to work around her medical needs and wouldn't you just know that right where I need the ladder is the only path you can travel from the bedroom to elsewhere in the home with her walker. Having said that, that day one went pretty good. For the average home handyman, this project could easily be done in a day provided no re-wiring is involved.

First thing on the agenda was to remove the 4 fan blades from the existing ceiling fan, the light bulbs, globes and lighting portion, before removing the fan motor. Of course no good deed goes unpunished when working in a victorian style home, and this project was not going to be any different. As I pulled the wire housing off the old unit I instantly see that the existing wiring doesn't include a ground wire. In fact, what I had in the attic was the old knob and tube to which someone added a short section of 14/2 without ground.

(Above, the old fan / light kit)

The next issue was to pry the plate cover off the original switch as it had been glued in place with layers of paint, Now when I say original switch, I mean the old fashioned 2 button variety. Although I really like the looks of the old switch, it is the only existing one in the home, so we opted to go with a regular toggle switch. Since we will be adding wall sconces to replace the existing ceiling lighting on the old fan, making a larger hole in the wall will be needed and a multibox put in for the additional switch(es).

Working my way around the dear wife's schedule and mobility, and taking care of the fur kids meals and potty duties, I managed to take out some of the old knob and tube wiring that had been cut off in the basement and living room wall and snake a fresh wire up to the new switch, and run over to the circuit breaker panel on the other end. The hole in the wall where the old switch and box resided now has a new metal duplex box in it's stead. Surprisingly, the plaster and lath wall trimmed out nicely for the new box, and no plaster repairs are in order at this point. While running new wires from the panel all the way to the attic, we also ran new wire at the same time for the sconces. This saved me at least one trip to the attic.

Assembling the new Haiku fan was fairly easy by following the directions, the blades, or as they call them, airfoils, are all colour coded with a matching dot at each location where the airfoils attach. After snugging down the bolts in the first blade (not too tight) you work clockwise again matching the dot colours as you proceed. Do not tighten any of the cap screws all the way until all airfoils are secured in place. NOTE: Be careful unpacking your Haiku fan as the styrofoam parts it is packed in are used in the assembly process. One thing I might add that is not in the instructions, is to put in the two screws that hold the wire cover in place before you assemble the fan and put it up. The screws that attach this piece are very tiny, hard to hold onto and do not screw in easily the first time. I would advise screwing them into the holes and then taking them back out while you still have the fan motor and shaft at floor level, and put the tiny screws where you can easily find them.

(Above: Using the styrofoam packing per instructions) Assembling the airfoils onto the motor housing. ^

Attaching the hanger hardware to the ceiling box is not hard at all but when it comes to holding up the assembled fan, snaking the safety cable and clamp into place and securing it, it would be much better to have a spare set of hands there to help. Since I had to do this myself I opted to put the bolt through the rubber shock absorbing bushing before attaching the safety cable. To make this part easier on myself and my bad shoulders, I put a small drop of dish detergent on the sides of the rubber bushing, then jammed a small screw driver between the lower edge of the ceiling box and above the rubber to keep it from moving up in the supplied U-bracket. Then once in place I pressed the fan shaft brackets up until the holes aligned. Once I accomplished that I took the screwdriver out and used in to align the holes perfectly. Then I took the bolt and used it to push out the small screwdriver and installing the bolt at the same time. You can just put the bolt directly into the bracket / rubber bushing directly but it has to be aligned perfectly as the fit is tight.

If you are installing, or, re-installing a ceiling medalian as I did, be sure to lower it onto the shaft before lifting the fan into place. Once the fan's supporting hardware is in place simply tuck your wires up into the ceiling box along with the majority of the safety cable, slide the wire cover up and align the slots with the holes you pre-tapped with the tiny screws at floor level. NOTE: These screws are very easy to drop, and very hard to find when you do, so a magnetized phillips screwdriver is a must in my humble opinion. (Don't ask how I know this lol)

The fan's remote control is fairly small, but works well. The fan has 7 speeds, along with reversablity, the whoosh factor which my dear wife and I love, and can be turned on or off with remote or wall switch. A set of tiny blue LED lights in the center of the foils light up as you change speeds. On the low speed one LED will light, on #2 speed two lights will function and so on. When in Whoosh mode, the LEDs will brighten and dim as the speed of the fan increases and decreases. Now if you are wondering what the Whoosh mode is, the best description I could give is it simulates a light natural breeze that fluctuates mildly as it runs.

(Above: note the pre-balancing weights and light pink coloured dot that matches the colour code on the foils)

The Haiku fan is by far the smoothest and quietest fan I have ever seen. They are pre-balanced at the factory (which is why you must install the airfoils by matching the 3 different coloured dots). I was blown away (no pun intended) by the lack of sound on low speed. I mean absolutely quiet! As we increased speed, the only sound was the air moving, no fan noise whatsoever. In W mode, you will literally hear a whooshing sound that increases in volume as the speed you select increases. On low it is like being outside on a beautiful spring day.

Telling it like it is guys and gals, this fan is AWESOME! Other than the couple assembly hints of my own I threw in above, even with my bum shoulders install was easy, directions are quite clear, and the fan looks as beautiful as it performs. I would easily give this Haiku fan a 5 of 5 star rating. The only problem we had with assembly was a stupid mistake on our part. There are two different style covers that go over the electronics. On one model it simply snaps in place, on the other, it snaps in, then you press down with the palm of your hand and rotate clockwise. We had the one that snaps in only, but both the wife and I missed that little detail and we spent a while trying to turn it clockwise as per directions (for the fan we did not have. LOL)

Price wise, at $1,000 suggested retail price, I'm kind of on the fence. I can't say it is a good retail price but by the same token after seeing it perform, I can't say it's not worth every penny for someone who wants to go first class. The Haiku can be used inside or out (except for the bamboo model which is what we have), It's miles ahead of the other fans I've seen, however, for that price I would like to see a warranty longer than 1 year. The fan is everything it is said to be and more. It covers a 60” area and total distance from the ceiling is roughly 30 to 31 inches, so one would want to have at least a 10 ft ceiling as we do in our home. One last point, I should say that on low it is much slower moving than most 3 speed fans on low, which makes me extremely happy since fans running too fast for too long sometimes affects my sinuses. Not this baby. I feel this is going to save us a heap of money on heating and cooling bills over the years to come, and that alone makes me think this fan is not over priced. More photos in the next few posts .................

More to follow in a few days on the wall sconces we are putting up..............................