Ceiling Fan Line Voltage Issue

[Woodboy]

Recently installed a new Casablanca ceiling fan that had an intermittent problem working. After having an electrician change out the fan circuit board and controller switch, which is really a small micro processor (all warranty work), it appears that my home voltage of 125 is about 3 volts too high for the operating range of the micro processor wall switch – according to the manufacturer. Love the fan and don’t really want to rent the 12 foot ladder again to take it down and replace it with different one. This is a new subdivision and I have a call into the local utility (Xcel Energy in Denver).

Any suggestions out there? Is there such a thing as a transformer for one circuit to lower the voltage a few volts? Any one else have this problem with an appliance?

[LCHIEN]

Recently installed a new Casablanca ceiling fan that had an intermittent problem working. After having an electrician change out the fan circuit board and controller switch, which is really a small micro processor (all warranty work), it appears that my home voltage of 125 is about 3 volts too high for the operating range of the micro processor wall switch – according to the manufacturer. Love the fan and don’t really want to rent the 12 foot ladder again to take it down and replace it with different one. This is a new subdivision and I have a call into the local utility (Xcel Energy in Denver).

Any suggestions out there? Is there such a thing as a transformer for one circuit to lower the voltage a few volts? Any one else have this problem with an appliance?

I may be a little off here, but I think may be you should call your local power distribution co. (In Texas we now have multiple provider companies and one distributor company) and tell them that your voltage is high.
At a nominal 125 that's a bit much and it means you are probably burning out bulbs much faster, too. The local transformer that brings the transmission line voltages down to 110/220 usually has some taps at around +/- a few percent to help get the voltage to the correct range (e.g. within 110-120). I'm thinking they can come out and select a different tap on your local distribution transformer.

Electrically there are transformers and even regulators to get the voltage up or down a few percent but it seems like you shouldn't have to do that.
It'll be inconvenient to mount/hide. and are just not found in the local hardware store. One solution would be a UPS from the local computer stores, they go for less than $40 for 300VA units (I'm not sure what a fan pulls and whether or not you have lights on this line, too) but usually those take in a wider AC voltage range and output a regulated AC voltage.

[just4funsies]

Your power company should be able to correct the problem. After all, they don't want to pay a bunch of claims from people for damaged hardware. Power company transformers are usually adjustable. That way, they can turn them up a little when wire runs are long, so there are a few extra "losable" volts to spare in the wiring. Similarly, they can usually be turned DOWN, to correct the kind of problems you are having. Ask them to help you out.

[vaking]

The power company has official rules. As per those rules the voltage supply has 2 ranges:
Range A: - favorable range. That is where the voltage is supposed to be and that is what all customer devices are supposed to be prepared to deal with.
Range B: - tolerable range. That is the range where the actual supply may deviate sometimes but that should be infrequent. If the supply goes out of range A regularly the power company will certainly respond.
For the official 120V supply the ranges are defined:
Range A - 114V- 126V. (120V within 5% tolerance)
Range B - 110V-127V. (Yes, it asymmetrical).
Intermittent problem with the fan most likely means that the fan works fine when the power is within the 126V but sometimes the real voltage spikes beyond that and that is when the fan fails. If your regular supply is 125V, that means chances of getting outside of range A is high and it probably happens often. Given that 126 and 127 are so close - there is a good chance voltage even gets outside of range B, which should never happen.
The numbers above are taken from documents of company called PacificCorp (Power utility of UTAH) but most likely specs for your area are same or close.
I refer to this doc:
www.pacificpower.net/File/File22465.pdf

[Stick]

The power company I work for has similar specs for acceptable voltage variation. 5% tolerance is the norm. I find it interesting that many Americans refer to household voltages as 110 and 220, when in reality, they are 120 and 240 nominal.

Rural power supply is not quite so exacting though. My "120" on the farm normally sits about 125.7 and I often see it over 130. (I have a digital voltage/frequency meter plugged in all the time in the shop.) I also see a lot more phase unbalance on my 3 phase than would be acceptable to my own power company. ( I live in one province, but work in another. Different power companies)