Ceiling fan

Question

QUESTION: I am trying to wire a ceiling fan using a swag kit. The wire with the swag kit only has two wires. My question is, what to connect the ground wire to.

ANSWER: The swag kit is not grounded, so you can't connect the ground wire to anything.

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QUESTION: I've connected the white wire and the black wire from the fan to rhe two wires on the swag, but I'm not getting anything. That was why I thought maybe I needed the ground connected. I don't know what else to do except call an electrician.

Answer

No, the green ground is just there for safety and will not affect the operation of the fan.

If there is a light kit, then there may be a blue or striped wire that would connect to the black wire.

It sounds like you are doing it right, so either the fan or the light kit may be defective. Also make sure that the chain for the fan is turned on, and that the slide switch for the direction is at one end or the other, but not in the middle.

Question

my problem is that I am replacing a ceiling fan, my old fan has 3 wires a red and black and white and green. the new fan has black white and blue and green. Now the switches on wall for old fan is 2 dimmer switches one for fan and one for light. When I hook up the new fan red to blue, black to black and white to white the dimmer switches are not working properly. The light in the new fan is a fluorescent and old fan light was a incandescent does that makes a difference. I was wondering if I can use the same dimmers for the new fan or do I have to take out the dimmers and replace them with one toggle switch to control both light and fan. thank you for helping

Answer

You need special dimmers and rated motors to use a speed control as you describe, not a standard dimmer. A standard dimmer will not dim a fluorescent lamp. You need a special dimmer, and not all fluorescent lamps can be dimmed, even with a dimmer rated for fluorescent lamps.

Question

We had an existing ceiling fan with light kit. The fan worked from the pull chain and the light worked from the wall switch. We took down the old fan to put up a new one. The house is older and there is a red, black, and white wire coming from the box in the ceiling. The fan itself has a white, black, and blue wire. The instructions say to connect the white to white and the black and blue wires to the black wire in the ceiling. The light kit instructs to connect the white to white (in the fan housing) and the blue to the black (again in the fan housing). Upon doing this, the wall switch no longer controls anything. We rewired to connect the blue wire (in the fan housing) to the red wire in the ceiling, and then black to black and white to white. Upon doing this, the light kit does not work at all. A friend (who is an electrician) came over and said that the red wire in the ceiling is putting out 80 volts in both the on and off position (as opposed to 120 and 0), and that he thinks there is an exposed wire somewhere (which he thinks has always been there, and is not a hazard). However, he then suggested that because the wall switch is a dimmer switch, that maybe that is why it is not working the light kit in the fan as well as why it is a strange voltage, and we should replace the wall switch with a standard on/off switch, then rewire the fan so that the blue wire goes to the red in the ceiling and again, black to black, white to white. Does this make sense to you? We just want the light to work from the wall switch and the fan from the pull chain, same as before. I do not understand why the light worked from the switch previoiusly and now it does not. Is it possible we have a bad switch? We did initially misunderstand the wiring instructions and tripped the breaker, and the wall switch "popped". Unfortunately our friend, while knowledgable, is not always very helpful.

Answer

The fan motor should not be on a dimmer. If it was, you may have damaged the dimmer. Do the wiring with a switch. If you get the light to work, then you can replace it with a dimmer later.

As far as the light, make sure that the black wire from the light gets connected to the red wire in the box. It may connect to the blue wire in between, but make sure it eventually gets connected to the red.

The black wire from the fan should end up on the black house wire, and both the fan and light white wires should end up on the house white. It may be only one wire in the box, but somewhere in the fan the two white wires should connect to each other.

If you keep having problems, get a plug and put it on the blue and white to see if the light lights. If it doesn't, the problem is in the fan. If it does, the problem is in the wiring in the house.

Question

I want to put a ceiling fan in where there is no box in ceiling now. I know how to put the box in, pull my wire for it. But where should I get the power from? And how do I add an additional switch for it next to the one switch on the wall.

Answer

Remember to get a special box made for fans.

You can get the electricity from any general purpose circuit. If it is a kitchen or dining room or laundry room, you can't tap from the outlets in those rooms. You can tap from a living room or other outlet in the wall if it faces the other room. If you have a basement or attic you might be able to tap from there. But remember you have to tap from a source that is on all the time. If you tap from a bedroom fixture, and the power goes to the switch first, the fan will work only when the bedroom light is on.

If you tap from a switch, you have to be careful that the power goes there first. If it goes to the light first, there will be no neutral there, and it will not work. If there are more than 2 wires in one cable (not counting the ground), there is likely power in the switch to run the fan.

You either need to remove the single box and put in a double box, or use a double switch that fits in a single box.

Question

The house wiring is red-white-black.The fan's wiring is black-white-blue. Which wires go together.

Answer

It depends on where the wires in the house go to. Is there one switch or two? In most cases, the white wires normally go together. With one switch, probably the black and blue fan wires go on the red house wire. With two switches, probably black to black and blue to red.