Question for electrical experts on ceiling fan install

I am in Southern walk, parkdale model. I am installing a fan myself in one of the bedrooms. It isn't a difficult job but the wiring that the builder put in the celing doesn't exactly match what the directions say should be there. If you can help I would love to hear your advice. Here's what they say to do, connect the black and the black/white to the black, connect the white to the white, connect the ground to the ground. I can do all that, however my outlet in the ceiling has a red wire and I don't know where I should put that one. The electrician that did our house also gave us two switches to control the fan one for the fan and one for the light. The fan we are installing doesn't have a light kit attached.

Anyone have any advice for me?

Suzanne

 

Just to be clear - there's an **extra** red wire?

 

this is where you have options with light and fan control. The power for the Fan and the power for the light can be controlled separately with a switch as you pointed out. Most ceiling fans have a light and a fan, and thus the wall switch will be wired so that there is one switch for each function. The white goes to the white - that is clear. The black goes to the black - that is clear. The black and white stripe goes to the black as well - that is clear.

The reason you have a red free is that you do not have a light kit. Leave it terminated with a wire nut. Twist the others together with a wire nut, close and attach and you are good to go.

Make sense? You found the ground one too, right (green?). After installing over a dozen of these, I feel I could do it in my sleep!

Also, if this is hard to reach (high) make sure you have the setting done before you get off the ladder (speed and fan blade direction).

 

Excellent it is very clear to me. I did find the ground, there is one green from the fan, one copper from the ceiling and another green on the plate that attaches the fan to the ceiling, I was putting all three together. You know I think I tried exactly what you described but the fan may not have been turned on itself, I can try it again now and see if it works.

Thanks for the help,
Suzanne

 

If you have a remote control with the fan and light you usually only need the hot wire the neutral wire and ground. The extra red is usually a hot and is used so you can control the fan and light from two different wall switches. With most remotes again only one hot is needed so cap off the other hot and only one switch will completely turn off the the light and fan and the remote will control both separately when the switch is on.

Lee j

 

The fan does not have a remote or light at the moment. We may add a light kit in the future but not today.

Suzanne

 

Sounds like you guys did better than i did once. A builder in one of my old houses put the ceiling fan install spot on a beam that wasnt suitable for load bearing. About two weeks of use the fan ripped out of the ceiling and on to the bed. Good thing we were in another room watching TV.

 

If you may add the light later you may want to connect the red to the Light wire in the fan (if there is one). Otherwise your going to have to remove the whole fan just to install the light.

 

It is actually nicer and simpler to get the remote control and usually only one hot is needed and cap off the hot to the switch you are not going to use. With the remote you can easily adjust the fan speed usually hi med low and you have a dimmer for the light built in on the remote.

Lee j

 

Thanks for the help everyone, working perfectly now. Connecting the red to the black/white would have been smart, I'll just make sure we never add a light to that one. The room is cooler already.

Suzanne

 

Nope, I can thank some Iraqi's for the nickname.

 

i think i made a mistake,, i connected black and blue to black, white to while, and green to ground as per the instruction in the fan setup manual,

but now, the question is i have one red left out from the fan outlet, did i have to use it for ?

now the fan doesn;t run. the fan i am trying to connect has the light kit with it,

what should i do? redo all over again to use RED ?

 

My fan didn't have a light kit so I didn't use the red at all. The red would be attached to the light kit. If you have three wires connected to the black, take one of those probably and connect it to the red for the lights to work. Mine had a black/white, and a black, I connect all to the black from the ceiling and left the red with a cap on. But if I wanted to use a light I would have connect black to black, black/white to red and then the light switch would be separate from the fan switch on the wall.

Suzanne

 

The black/Blue and red are most likely hot wires and if you are only using the fan without the light you only need to connect to either one of the them not both to make the fan work. Just cap off the one you are not using. If you have two wall switches then only one switch will operate the fan if you cap off one of the hots.

If you have no wall switches then you can only operate the fan from the pull chain on the fan.

In the remote control fans and lights you only need to have one hot wire to make both the fan and light work as it will split the power for you as to what you want on. Just fan or just light or both.



Lee j

 

Speaking of fans and problems...

Installed a dropped ceiling fan hanging from a high diagonal ceiling. Clicks as it turns. Medium to high speed it is a problem, it seems. We placed a piece of cardboard in the part that holds the long cylinder from the top to tighten it. Still clicks. Tips?

 

do you get any kind of wobble? You may need to do a better job of stabilizing. Most fans come with a stabilizer kit, with small "pads" that can be used to help balance the fan while swinging.

The click could be from one of the fan arms that is just touching something as it wobbles.

That is a guess but worth further investigation. Also, the long cylinder/arm can be hard to get to hang just right... you may need to re-do the attachments and tighten again.