Stuck wiring ceiling fan to existing light switch.

lamperti77 · Oct 17, 2009, 08:18 PM

Attempting to wire a ceiling fan to an existing light switch. Ceiling fan has Black, Blue (light), white and ground. Fan being installed is light adaptable, but will have absolutely no plans of adding the light. I have run 14-2 wire to the light switch. Light switch has Black, Red, White and Ground. The light switch also is connected to the top portion of a outlet which we want to maintain.

I've tried every combination starting with black to black, white to white and ground to ground, with no luck. Small bedroom so no need for the switch to activate the fan just looking to supply the power. similar situation in another bedroom and wiring was fine.

Some of the combinations tried have resulted in the light working while switch is in the off position while the light plugged in to the outlet is being activated by the pull chain.

Asked a rep at Lowes about it and he suggested to disconnect the blue from the black in the ceiling fan but that made no difference. Any help would be appreciated.

Current setup:

Wiring from Fan: Black & Blue to Black, White to White, Ground to Ground.
Wall to switch: Black, Red, White & Ground.

lamperti77 · Nov 3, 2009, 11:47 PM

Correct. Yellow goes to the fan.

ianmckinley · Nov 3, 2009, 11:53 PM

hkstroud is right in my opinion. looks like power is coming from the receptacle (lower), to the switch, and back to upper. They could have got away with running a 2 wire but it's a good thing they didn't or your plan wouldn't have worked!

lamperti77 · Nov 7, 2009, 04:41 PM

All pigtails have been applied and all wires have been secured via the screw contacts. Still nothing. before i attached the pigtails I connected the WHITE and BLACK (yellow romex) from the ceiling fan to the RED and BLACK of the light switch while the switch was in the off position. The light and ceiling fan turns on. when I attach the BLACK and WHITE from the ceiling fan to the RED and WHITE or BLACK and WHITE, nothing happens. nothing happens when the switch is in the ON position and i try the same combinations. I am obviously lost. i thought it might help if I wired the fan to the outlet rather than the switch since that is where the power is being brought into the room. I appreciate everyone's help so far.

hkstroud · Nov 7, 2009, 08:53 PM

I am assuming that you want the switch to continue controlling the outlet and the ceiling fan to be controlled by the pull chain.

lamperti77 · Nov 7, 2009, 09:33 PM

You are correct. I do want the switch to continue to operate the top portion of the outlet. I did complete the pigtails as you displayed above and moved all connections to the screw contacts.

In securing the pigtails, I noticed the yellow romex is 12 gauge (thicker) and the white romex is 14 gauge. could that make a difference? I think the lower the number the thicker the wire, correct? Thanks again for the detailed directions.

hkstroud · Nov 7, 2009, 10:30 PM

Correct, the smaller the number, the larger the gauge. That is not a factor, here. At the switch the black is hot all the time. The red is hot when the switch is on. The white is neutral. When connected black to black and white to white, the power and the neutral go on to the ceiling fan. If that is not working something else is wrong. Check wiring in ceiling. Note that the tab connecting the two hot screws have been removed so you can have the top half switched. Make sure that the tab on the neutral side has not been removed.