Forums Home E-mail   Safety Issues     Rubber Flywheel     |     Motor Support Ring     The Flywheel   The Tara fan, like most American made fans of the 1980s, uses a rubber flywheel to mount the blades to the motor. This was designed to isolate motor vibration from the blades resulting in smoother and quieter operation. The design, supposedly patented by the Casablanca Fan Company, was effective and is still used on higher-end fans today. However the composition of rubber in these earlier flywheels was not strong enough to withstand both the elements and the stress and weight of the spinning blades, and over time, the rubber supports of the flywheels would crumble. This would result in the blade assembly detaching from the motor.   Tara motor with broken flywheel     Certain makes of flywheels, and therefore, fans, were more susceptible to problems than others. The worst offenders were Homestead, which used a particularly weak composition of flywheel to mount six blades. Taras were not far behind, as they used the same make of flywheel, but with only four blades. It is extremely rare to find a Tara (or Homestead) with the original flywheel still intact, many even had to be replaced within the first few years of operation. Usually the original flywheels, or any similarly aged replacement, will be found looking something like this:   Broken Tara flywheel     What set the Tara fan apart from other fans with flywheel issues, and makes it a safety issue, is the switch housing. The Tara fan was designed with a much smaller switch housing than any other flywheel fan. Normally when the flywheel gives way on a fan the switch housing is large enough to catch the outer ring of the flywheel. So the blades, instead of crashing to the floor, fall about 2". (click for an example, a Homestead Comfort Flow with a broken flywheel) The fan basically looks like it should when it's not operating, and most people don't notice anything wrong until they try and operate it. But with the Tara fan, the switch housing is smaller, so it does not catch the flywheel. The blades could possibly crash to the ground, causing injury and damage below.   Tara motor with broken flywheel slipping down switch housing     If the fan is mounted with a light kit, the light kit can perhaps catch the outer ring of the flywheel in the same manner as a larger switch housing would.   Tara with light kit and fallen flywheel     Replacement flywheels are available, and while there are no direct replacements, there are some options: click the picture to continue.   Continue to replacement flywheel page               | Back to Homepage |     Email mtneuman@mailbag.com with any comments or corrections     Click to subscribe to vintageceilingfans