Is there anyway to increase the speed of a ceiling fan? Even on the high setting it just doesn't seem to spin as quickly as some of the other fans in my house.

How do you control the speed? If there is a wall mounted 3 speed switch then the pull chain on the fan needs to be set on high.
If the pull chain is set to either medium or low the fan won't spin as fast as possible even when the wall switch is on high.

Yes, if you wanted to go as far as busting it open and swapping out the motor, it can be done.

Is there a practical way to increase the speed that's more cost effective/ less hassle than buying a new one? No (assuming switches are set on highest setting).

As cheap as fans are, and considering any hot-rodding would require you to get up on a ladder anyway, just replace the fan.

No point in risking burning your house down.

Share your frustration. We have some cheapy builder grade fans in our place and they suck. The high speed is laughable, but the more aggravating thing is the 3 speeds are NOT in order - H-M-L but staggered M-L-H ( I think). But since the high sux, it's a pain in the ass to click through & find the right setting quickly. 1st world probs.

Motor speed is proportional to voltage. Hook it up to a 240 V supply and let her rip.

Change the blades (longer & wider) maybe to get more airflow?

Are you sure it doesn't have a switch to turn it from "suck up" versus "blow down" mode? If it does you could have it pulling up air versus the latter.

JSKolache said:

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Share your frustration. We have some cheapy builder grade fans in our place and they suck. The high speed is laughable, but the more aggravating thing is the 3 speeds are NOT in order - H-M-L but staggered M-L-H ( I think). But since the high sux, it's a pain in the ass to click through & find the right setting quickly. 1st world probs.

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Rewiring the switch is fairly easy, it's just one input and three outputs.

If the fan speed has always been this way since the fan was new, maybe it was just manufactured to operate at lower speeds. If you feel like it has slowed down over time, the capacitor in the fan may be bad. They look something like this.

Generally, you just need to find out the voltage/capacitance of your current capacitor (it's usually written on the side), find one that is as close as possible (including the correct number of wires), cut out the old one, and then wire in the new one the same way matching the voltage/capacitance by wire.

I've changed a few, and it is pretty straightforward, especially with YouTube videos to guide you. The most obnoxious part is finding the right capacitor online and waiting for it to ship. In my case, most of what I found was extended shipping time or pay 3x the price of the part to ship it in a couple of days.