When cleaning the house, I’ve never been very thorough when it comes to dusting. Living in India has really highlighted this deficiency in my housekeeping skills. It’s a very dirty country. Dusting almost has to be done daily, as it relentlessly settles all over the house.
One thing has me extremely puzzled though. That’s the amount of dust that manages to attach itself to the ceiling fans. It’s so hot here, the ceiling fan in the bedroom is almost always on, night and day (my desk is in the bedroom), yet dust ends up literally hanging off it. Even the bottom side of the blade! The fan looks like it’s growing mould!
A very dusty fan blade.
When huge chunks of dust start flying off the fan in all directions, I know it’s time to clean it! I’m at a complete loss to understand how the dust gets there in the first place though. How can so much dust possibly attach itself to a moving object? The ceiling fan in the kitchen rarely gets used and has less dust on it!
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Well I have no idea how that happens too. I can see you’re intelligent and have brown coloured ceiling fans. I wasn’t that wise. I went and got pearl white coloured fans for our bedroom. I don’t want to tell people here what sort of looks my wife gives me when she sees them!
Oh and the fan in the picture is almost identical to the fan in my parents living room! Small world!
could it be that the air in here, esp mumbai, is filled with dust particles, moving fan induces electric charge and attraction occurs with metal perhaps..
check this http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070905215259AAcGsXz
Now that’s a clever answer.
I never was very good at science!
Next time try cleaning it with either soapy water or windex/glass cleaner thingie. Both of them reduce surface tension and hence attract less dust.
heh – first comment and I make it on a cleaning post
Just wanted to mention that this phenomenon is not restricted to India – I’m in Texas, use the fans constantly, and my fans look like that if I don’t dust them every week!
My living room has 21′ ceilings, and we can’t reach that fan without a ladder, so that one always looks grungy, we brush off the dust with a stiff duster that slides over the blade, but don’t do the windex deal often on it – I keep it on when I have company, to disguise its look
M
Wow, the things I’ve learned about ceiling fans today! Texas must be a dusty ole place too! I really do love the wealth of knowledge here. Will definitely take extra measures to keep the dust at bay, now I know what’s causing it.
Hahahahahahahahahaha!
This was the question I asked my mum when I was in class 3. She doesn’t have an answer to this date.
I am back home and choked by a forced reminder of how dusty India really is. Especially Gurgaon is living hell on Earth. When you find a solution that works, would you tell us all…Sharell?
Hmm.. thats coz there’s something called a Boundary Layer therory…
When air tries to move over a solid object, there is thin film of air(boundary layer) right next to the blade that acutally doesnt move because of friction between the metal surface(of the balde) & the air layer.
If you look a the dust closely you will notice its very fine.. thats coz the boundary layer is very thin… any big particles will get blown away
Wow, Prashanth here has some very good theory !!! thanx for the enlightenment guys !!!!
wow, that’s the dirtiest fan i’ve ever seen…crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mumbai must be really dirty. i live in delhi and i’ve never ever seen that much dirt on our fans, let alone the floor.
Ok Broo, I live in Delhi too and my fans are that dirty! Tell me your secret please!
Im in Boston and we have it too…and mysteriously, on the way back top of the refrigerator…that little place that 5’3″ me can’t see so it gets forgotten…lol.
This happens here (Cambodia) too and it happened when we lived in Samoa and even in Singapore and Im a clean freak…drives me nuts! our standard fans get covered too but they come apart and are much easier to clean.
I found this: http://www.imponderables.com/why_do_ceiling.php
You are not alone with have that here in PA too we get alot of dust like that on our celing fan in the Dinning room, my bed room and living room IDK why. To make matters worse the celing fan in my room is white I did not pick it that is what my Nana put up in my room before I lived with her. I’m looking for another celing fan that won’t show the dirt as bad LOL
#1065? Did I miss the other 1064? Where are they?
Yup, there’s no escaping the dust.
Cheers,
Quirky Indian
Quirky has a point Sharell!
Lol, you two! Are you auditors or something?
The mysteries are everywhere in India, I haven’t necessarily written about them. 
Hahahahahahaha!
I always thought it was spider webs as the binding agent.
Hi,
wow!!! thats quite a bit. we get something known as a ceiling fan cleaner its tall and the end has a brush which is shaped in such a way that it would just slide on the blade and come out. so every month its as simple as sliding that on the fan blades. a picture is given on the link below. I have seen the same available in Indian markets too.
http://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.summitdistribution.com/mollymaid/images/ceilng%2520fan%2520cleaner.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.summitdistribution.com/mollymaid/microfiber.htm&h=200&w=170&sz=15&tbnid=jMmClU9FD_RP7M:&tbnh=104&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfan%2Bcleaner&usg=__edJlRzp5OQ5VTNHyQQTwPea6mXU=&sa=X&ei=7NQHTKrHJdSwrAfrytVh&ved=0CCwQ9QEwBA
Regards,
Sarina
Now that’s a fantastic idea! What a great invention. I’ll have to see if I can track one down here. 8) Thanks for the tip Sarina!
I live in Florida and my ceiling fan gets pretty bad pretty fast. Dusting is absolutely necessary for me because I’m asthmatic. And I only just realized you can vacuum the dust off after I witnessed my roommate clean her bedroom ceiling fan in this fashion. I don’t know why I never thought of that… it’s so much easier.
Every Sunday, with a wet mop, I clean up all the fans.
Takes me an hour for all the fans.
But I have seen what happens when I don’t clean for a month….
“When huge chunks of dust start flying off the fan in all directions….”
Eeeeeeeeewwww!
I can’t stop imagining it….
Sharell screaming in joy,
“Black snowfall!
YaaaY!”
Please come and wield your wet mop over here!!
The fans are getting dirty…
I admit that its gets very dusty here. But Sharell, I havent seen that kind of dust in 25 years of my life
My maid cleans it up twice a month and may be thats why I havent had the fortune of seeing something like this. When we were young, my dad used to do this religiously every alternate Sundays. It wasnt very happening, as I had to do the sweeping part!! 
It’s shameful isn’t it! The fan was usually going all the time, so didn’t notice it much to start off with. Then I just didn’t know how to deal with it!
I’d never seen anything like it in my life either.
Its such a pain and so gross to look at, so i just shut the windows, and kept the fan on instead. that reduced the dust greatly, and i also got the maid to clean it every single day.
i really really cant fathom just how this much dust is in the air in india, especially when upstate newyork was so, so so clean. i miss those blue skies
The electric current from the fan creates a static charge on the fan blades which attracts the dust like glue. Your mystery is solved.
Your blog is wonderful. I am also a white women in love with an Indian man so your blog is quite informative and I’m thoroughly enjoying reading it.
Wishing you all good things,
Thanks megzy! Glad you stopped by.
Wishing you the best too!
Megzy, also the oil vapour from the cooking rises to the top of any room, and will coat a fan. You are correct, electromagnetic fields around the fan attract this oil vapour and dust and make it stick.
As Mr. Ko la pat i Ra o said dusty fans are not only in India but even in Texas too (as are lice).
Sharell, I will stop by often. You certainly make me want to go see all of these places and sights you’ve written of in your excellent blog.
Dupree Singh, Tea Tree Oil is a great lice killer. Oil vapour will coat everything not just the fan blades.
What do you recommend for a de-greaser?
Best de-greaser for your hair or for your fan? If for your hair I would recommend refraining from putting grease from the cookware on your hair in the first place. If for fan I would recommend soap or washing liquid diluted and use a a damp disposable cloth. Also I will stress “I” do not have lice I was only doing an impression of a man who got angry at Sharell when she wrote about one time she had lice. His name is Kola*patti Ra*o and he is the funniest man on earth.