I bought a new ceiling fan to replace an existing one. (the existing one worked, I just didn't like the way it looked). There's only 2 wires from the ceiling. The new ceiling fan has four wires: green, black, white, and one combo black/white. The light works as long as I connect the combo black/white. The fan only works with the green and black from the fan connected to the black in the ceiling, and then the white to the white. That's how the old fan was connected, but the old fan only had 3 wires, green, black and white, it didn't have the combo black/white. Shouldn't the green be for the ground wire? I'm confused why the green needs to be connected for the fan to work. And I'm confused as to how the wires should be connected so that the fan and the light both work. Also since it's an old house and there's only 2 wires in the ceiling is there anything that can be done regarding grounding? There is a wall switch that can be used to turn the fan/light on and off.

Here is the proper way connect the fan:

Black from ceiling - black from fan - black & white striped
White from ceiling - white from fan
Green - attach to metal outlet box. It should work properly.

http://www.ceiling-fans-n-more.com/c...fan-wiring.php

I tried the black and combo black/white to the black in the ceiling and the white to white. Only the light works, the fan won't work. The only way I can get the fan to work is with the black and green to the black in the ceiling and the white to white, however, the light doesn't work. So I still can't get both the fan and light to work at the same time.

Was this a brand new fan? You should DEFINITELY not have green wired to anything hot, if it requires green to be connected to black, something isn't right.

Yes this is a new Hunter ceiling fan. The old ceiling fan , which was here when I bought the house, had the green and black from the fan to the black in the ceiling and the white to the white. And the only way I can get the fan to work is to connect the new fan the same way, but the light doesn't work. The fan and the light both worked on the old fan.?

Why do you start a new topic every time instead of responding to one of the other forty you've created for the same problem?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, you should NOT be connecting green to black, it's not safe. The correct way to wire it is:

Black from ceiling to black from fan AND striped from fan

White from ceiling to white from fan

Green to ground

If that doesn't work there is either something wrong with your fan, or something wrong with your ceiling wiring.

http://www.ceiling-fans-n-more.com/c...fan-wiring.php

Let me pipe in here... I been trying to follow this and it just occurred to me what the problem may be.

Correct me if I am wrong, the green and black fron the fan is connected to the black fronm the ceiling? The only way something would work and not short out is... this is a long shot... the black in the ceiling is actually a neutral, and the white in the ceiling is hot.

The splices should be all taken apart, and each wire tested to ground in the box , the black should be hot at 120 volts.

The white should read zero or almost zero volts, and should read 120 volts across the black and white.

If this makes sense, check the wires and get back with the results. If not ask more questions.

To respond in this post, click on Answer This Question button below my answer

Very good point. If we could ever get that far, I was aiming for "do you have a volt meter?" But I didn't see how it could not short out, or at least shock the hell out of someone, because I didn't think of the hot/neutral reverse.

Thanks tkrussel, this is the first time I've used this site and when I replied to "ceilingfanrepair" I did'nt know to click on the answer this question button. I thought that was only for answering my question.

My guess is that the problem is with the ceiling wires. This house was built in the 1920's and the previous owner(s) have done some pretty sloppy things. As I mentioned before they had the old ceiling fan connected with the black and green to one of the ceiling wires, somehow it did work. I don't have a voltage meter, but I know someone that does, so I'll check the ceiling wires to see which is actually the load.

Thanks ceilingfan repair for your help also.

Assuming this theory is correct.. . Both fan and light should work if you connect black and striped to one of the wires, and white to the other. The ground wire will ultimately need to be grounded, and should not be connected to either the black wire or the white wire.

The volt meter is to figure out which wire is hot and which is neutral.. . It can work with them reversed but you're not supposed to.

More on ceiling fan wiring:

http://www.ceiling-fans-n-more.com/c...fan-wiring.php

PS sorry for being sarcastic about the new topic thing. It never occurred to me you might not know how to do that. Some people start a new one when they're not happy with the previous answer, and that's just rude.

Another thought, I am thinking in the old fan, maybe they were using green as a hot lead to the light. Some older fans didn't have a separate hot lead for the light, and they could have added it using the ground wire. If your Hunter fan is brand new, green shouldn't be anything but ground.