Page 63 - enLIGHTenment Magazine - April 2017
P. 63
it’s a brEEzE
“I’ve had electricians
tell me that they
don’t ever balance
Susan Irie, ceiling fans, and I’d
Kilohana
Lighting
respond, ‘Well then
you don’t install
them!’”
consumers return ceiling fans as “broken,” those “If we had a certi ed ceiling fan installation
products are now a non-sellable item and either program, electricians who are installing the
have to be sent to a land ll – and we have pre- fans would be able to troubleshoot some of the
cious li le space [in Hawaii] – or they have to be common problems,” Irie states. Having a more
sent back to the manufacturer.”
comprehensive education would also potentially
With all of the new technology occurring in increase the sales of be er-quality ceiling fans.
ceiling fans (i.e. wireless and smart controls, the “Some of my very good electricians don’t know
advantages of DC motors vs AC, ENERGY STAR why some ceiling fan models are be er than oth-
quali cations), selling this category is now more ers, or the di erence between a spinner motor
complicated. “Ceiling fans are a big business for and a DC motor,” she says.
me and this has become a real problem. I began “There are a lot of markets, besides Hawaii,
asking the ceiling fan manufacturers I’d see at the where people use ceiling fans all the time,” notes
Dallas Market for help in educating the installers,” Irie, adding that Naples Lighting & Fan Depot in
she notes. What Irie discovered was that there is Florida has a ceiling fan installer on sta full-time.
no designated training program or textbook – nor She states that other industry professionals – such
is there universal terminology: for example, one as interior designers, architects, and project man-
company may refer to a blade iron while another agers – also specify ceiling fans for their clients
calls it a blade arm plus the methods of measuring and would bene t from this knowledge.
downrods di er among manufacturers.
An active member of the American Lighting
april 2017 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 61
