I only have 3 wires from my ceiling to connect to my fan/light, the black, white and bare ground. No problems setting up in this room to only one switch but I would like to have the duel fan/light switch in like in my other rooms without having to pull a wire from the ceiling down to the switch, mainly because its darn near impossible for me to get to that area in the attic with the roof slanted there.
So I wanted to split the ground wire and connect the extra black wire from the fan/light to it and split it at the fixture and throw in a duel fan light switch as opposed to having just one switch and having to use the draw strings to use the fan and light separately. I know as a last resort I could use one of the remote switches that goes in the canopy of the fan but those start around 30 to 40 bucks and up.

So can the ground also be a black or hot wire at the same time?

Setup Fan/light to ceiling wires:

Black to black
White to white
Black/white to bare ground
Green to bare ground

And at the switch split the ground again to the other grounds and to the fan switch.

Or would this cause problems? Thanks

So can the ground also be a black or hot wire at the same time?

Setup Fan/light to ceiling wires:

black to black
white to white
black/white to bare ground
green to bare ground
At the risk of sound like a jerk...
PLEASE tell me you are not actually asking this question!

NO!! You CANNOT do this. Period, and of story. People, most recently a child, have died from someone doing this.
And I am not even going to go into the reasons.


I am afraid you'll have to spring for the $40 for a remote kit.



Actually, after re-reading this I think I smell a troll. This is too contrived.

Yep , he almost have you trapped under the troll bridge.

If he runs the hot into the ground wire, won't it short out, and throw the breaker?

What what's up with the troll, I don't get it...

What what's up with the troll, I don't get it... From Wiki:


In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.[2]

If he runs the hot into the ground wire, won't it short out, and throw the breaker?

Not necessarily. He has broken the ground connection to use part of it as a current carrying conductor. No ground connection, no ground fault, no breaker trip.

By breaking the grounding path you are creating an unsafe condition, that can cause electrocution or an electrical fire.

Your life is worth more than the $40 it will cost for a remote.

Oh I see, I didn't read the question correctly.

However, the question may be valid. I understand why this shouldn't be done, however I have seen a few places where a ground wire was used to carry current. In fact, this was the case in my last house I used to live in where a ground wire was used in a three way switch circuit. When I got down to remodeling the house I corrected it using the proper three conductor (with ground) wire.

However, people DO do it, even if they are not supposed to.

In this question common sense should prevail. No- of course you don't use ANY uninsulated wire to carry live voltage, period.

If you r going to do this, which I don't suggest,use the neutral (white wire )for your other switch leg and tape up the bare wire and use it for a neutral

Roryrbie, this thread is over a year old.

Please note the dates on the threads, and avoid answering questions older than a month or so.

This thread is closed.