Hello, A few days ago I took down an old celling fan to find the older one was not put up right. It only was screwed to a block of wood so I removed that and put up a bar and box supported on the beams of the house. Anyways that was my first problem that I ran into the next one was the wiring . I noticed that the old fan was wired in a odd way. from the roof copper(ground) went to white in the fan. Black from the roof went to blue in the fan. White from the roof went to black in the fan.

I noticed the new fan(that has no blue) works with white to ground and white to black and black to green but is it safe? I have done fans in the past and have always just matched up the colors . The new fan wont work if I put black to black white to white and ground to ground. I don't get what's wrong.

The guy who put the fans up did two bedrooms at once so i'm thinking the other one is wired the same. I took the light switches out and I don't see anything wrong.

Please help. I really want to get this fan up and working but don't know where to start. I'm short on money and dont want to hire some one if I don't have to .

Thank you !!!!

ballengerb1

I think we need to start by confirming what you have in your ceiling. By the way, where are you located? Your black should be hot 120vac, your white should be the neutral and the copper is your ground. Do you have a tester and know how to confirm? Since you said you tried black to black, white to white and ground to ground and the fan didn't work. I think your wiring in the ceiling is mixed up.

blue_diamond2077

Hi, I live in arizona. I don't have a tester but will go out and buy one . I'm heading to home depot now. From what i'm thinking is the white is the hot because when I took down the old fan the guy who put it up wrapped the white wire in black tape.

labman

It sounds to me like both the black and white are hot. To do simple checks like this you do need some tools. A test light, a meter, or a voltage detector might be the best place to start with. I came across the niftiest gadget for trouble shooting, a voltage detector. They work through the insulation of wires. There are several brands. I have a GB Instruments GVD-505A, less than $15 at Home Depot. Touch it to a hot wire, and the end glows red. Find the doodad that lights it on one side, and not the other, and you have the culprit. You do not have to open up housings and expose electrical contacts. You are looking at where your hand is, not where the meter is. Most people are capable of doing repairs and will get it going and not get hurt if they use a little sense. The voltage detector makes it even easier.

Using whatever tools you have, see if the black and white are both hot. If so, something is mixed up. I would next go to the other fan and see if whoever installed the fans messed up something there. Sometimes fans are wired up for 2 speeds or fan and lights to be controlled from different wall switches. That requires a 3 wire plus ground cable. I wonder if somebody rigged up a 2 wire one by using the white in place of the red, and the ground in place of the white? If so, you need to trace back to where it was done and fix it. No matter how bad an idea is, if it will work, likely it has been done.

ceilingfanrepair

What make is the old fan?

I concur with LabMan, the old fan was wired with a separate hot for the light and fan, and used ground as neutral. This is not safe. Right now the fan and light are controlled by separate switches, you will either have to rewire them to be controlled by one switch, or run new wiring.

blue_diamond2077

I only have one light switch in my bedroom

I went with the commercial electric hsp10

when I touch the + from the hsp to the white wire and the - from the hsp to the copper(ground wire) I get a reading the makes the meter jump far. Keeping the meter on ACV 250 I get a reading of +17 or about 120 dc.

When I touch the + from the meter to the white and the - from the meter to the black I get almost no movement at all. It only goes up to 100 ohm.

then I do a + from the meter to the black and the - from the meter to the ground and nothing at all happens only 500 ohm.

I'm new to this meter thing and am unsure of the acv settings so the whole time I have had it on 250. The guys at home depot didn't help that much. so i'm hoping you guys can.

Thanks !

ceilingfanrepair

I was asking about the make of the OLD fan, not the new one.

You will leave the meter set on 250vAC, not ohms. If my suspicions are correct you will get a large jump between black and ground, and white and ground, but nothing between black and white.

blue_diamond2077

Nope I did the 250ACV With the black and ground and nothing. it went up maybe one 10th of an inch.

I don't know the name of the fan it was here when I moved in.

ImageShack® - Public page for blue_daimond2077

I posted some pictures here I don't know if it's a help. This was the pictures I took of the old fan and how it was wired.

ballengerb1

"With the black and ground and nothing" and there is black tape on the white wire. I suspect that your hot and neutral are reversed. The black should be hot but it isn't. They probably used it as neutral. Your white wire should be neutral with no power but I think you're finding 120 vac (not dc). To test this try white to ground, guessing its 120. Then try white to black and again 120. Now try black to ground and it' s nothing at all. If this is the case you may want to start testing other outlets and electrical connects the previous person may have altered.

blue_diamond2077

Yes white to ground works ok. I get 120. White to black NOTHING at all.. black to ground nothing at all. Can it be that the black wire is cut some place and it's stopping it from being used ? All the colors on the switch seem right and match.