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    kemcderm's Avatar
    kemcderm Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    May 8, 2014, 12:42 PM
    Replacing a ceiling fan
    I wanted to surprise my mom for mother's day and change out her ceiling fan. Mind you I have put up many ceiling fans:) Anyway hers has more switches than I am used to. It is pre-wired to a switched that has 3 switches to control the lights in her living room, then it has a toggle that dims the light to the ceiling fan and another one that controls the speed of the fan. So... we have 2 toggles and 3 flip switches. My question is, I got everything up and the light works, you can here the fan hum when you turn it on, but the blades do not move:( The ceiling fan has a red, black, white, copper wire. The fan has a blue, black, white, green wire. I connected the black to black, white to white, green to copper, and red to blue. I have checked the reverse switch and all connections and I can't make it work. Any suggestions?
    talaniman's Avatar
    talaniman Posts: 54,325, Reputation: 10855
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    #2

    May 8, 2014, 01:44 PM
    Did you try green to blue, copper to red?
    stanfortyman's Avatar
    stanfortyman Posts: 5,598, Reputation: 279
    Electrical & Lighting Expert
     
    #3

    May 8, 2014, 02:22 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by talaniman View Post
    Did you try green to blue,
    Not good advice. Green would never go to anything but green or bare.
    stanfortyman's Avatar
    stanfortyman Posts: 5,598, Reputation: 279
    Electrical & Lighting Expert
     
    #4

    May 8, 2014, 02:23 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by kemcderm View Post
    I wanted to surprise my mom for mother's day and change out her ceiling fan. Mind you I have put up many ceiling fans:) Anyway hers has more switches than I am used to. It is pre-wired to a switched that has 3 switches to control the lights in her living room, then it has a toggle that dims the light to the ceiling fan and another one that controls the speed of the fan. So... we have 2 toggles and 3 flip switches. My question is, I got everything up and the light works, you can here the fan hum when you turn it on, but the blades do not move:( The ceiling fan has a red, black, white, copper wire. The fan has a blue, black, white, green wire. I connected the black to black, white to white, green to copper, and red to blue. I have checked the reverse switch and all connections and I can't make it work. Any suggestions?
    Sounds right, but you need to make sure the fan is in the high position when using a wall speed control.
    kemcderm's Avatar
    kemcderm Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #5

    May 8, 2014, 02:30 PM
    No the green is attached to the bracket. The copper and red are both coming from the ceiling so they would not go together. The ceiling has red, copper, white, black. The fan has black, blue, white. The green is hooked to the fan brace. The instructions tell me to hook the black and blue from the fan to the black in the ceiling. Then to hook green to copper and white to white. But my ceiling has a red wire? So I researched this and found that the black and red are hot wires and that I should hook black to black, and blue to red. As I stated before, my light comes on and dims, but the fan hums and doesn't move:(

    It is hard to believe that it is the fan, it is brand new. My family just thinks I did something wrong in the wiring, but I can't figure out what. Any other suggestions?
    donf's Avatar
    donf Posts: 5,679, Reputation: 582
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    #6

    May 10, 2014, 03:12 AM
    Kem,

    I need to understand your wiring because you are not making sense.

    Most fans use the following wiring plan, Black used by the fan's motor, Blue used by the fan's light, White the Neutral return and bare or green the equipment grounding conductor.

    For a fan that is going to use pull chains for the motor and light, Black and Blue would be connected to the Hot (Black) from the supply cable. The same is true if the unit will be controlled by a remote control system.

    However, if there is a wall switch in the system it becomes a tad more complicated depending on how the switch gets its power. If the feed is to the switch first and then the fan's outlet box, there would be only one 3 wire cable coming from the switch. You would have to look at the switch to see which wire is interrupted by the switch. If it is the black wire, connect the black from the to the "BLUE" for the light and the Red from the switch box to the Black for the fan.

    However, if in the ceiling box, there two cables, One two wire (Black, White, Copper) and one 3 wire (Black, White, Red, Bare) then most likely you have a supply cable (2 wire) and a switch loop (3 wire). Again, look at the switch.

    The most common configuration would be, Supply Black connected to Switch black. The Red from the switch to the BLUE to the light. The Black from the Fan connected to the Supply Black and the Switch Black.

    This configuration will supply constant power to the fan's pull chain and interrupted power to the light. The light will only work when the switch is in the "ON" position.
    donf's Avatar
    donf Posts: 5,679, Reputation: 582
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    #7

    May 10, 2014, 05:00 AM
    Kem,

    Here ids the problem I have with your question.

    "It is pre-wired to a switched that has 3 switches to control the lights in her living room, then it has a toggle that dims the light to the ceiling fan and another one that controls the speed of the fan. So... we have 2 toggles and 3 flip switches. My question is, I got everything up and the light works, you can here the fan hum when you turn it on"

    Where are the switches? Are they on the fan, on the wall or on a remote?
    kemcderm's Avatar
    kemcderm Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #8

    May 10, 2014, 01:45 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by donf View Post
    Kem,

    Here ids the problem I have with your question.

    "It is pre-wired to a switched that has 3 switches to control the lights in her living room, then it has a toggle that dims the light to the ceiling fan and another one that controls the speed of the fan. So... we have 2 toggles and 3 flip switches. My question is, I got everything up and the light works, you can here the fan hum when you turn it on"

    Where are the switches? Are they on the fan, on the wall or on a remote?
    OK, the switch is on the wall. One switch controls her outlets, one switch controls the light to the fan, the other switch controls her recessed lighting. Now there is a toggle that dims the ceiling fan light and one that controls the fan speed.

    Quote Originally Posted by donf View Post
    Kem,

    I need to understand your wiring because you are not making sense.

    Most fans use the following wiring plan, Black used by the fan's motor, Blue used by the fan's light, White the Neutral return and bare or green the equipment grounding conductor.

    For a fan that is going to use pull chains for the motor and light, Black and Blue would be connected to the Hot (Black) from the supply cable. The same is true if the unit will be controlled by a remote control system.

    However, if there is a wall switch in the system it becomes a tad more complicated depending on how the switch gets its power. If the feed is to the switch first and then the fan's outlet box, there would be only one 3 wire cable coming from the switch. You would have to look at the switch to see which wire is interrupted by the switch. If it is the black wire, connect the black from the to the "BLUE" for the light and the Red from the switch box to the Black for the fan.

    However, if in the ceiling box, there two cables, One two wire (Black, White, Copper) and one 3 wire (Black, White, Red, Bare) then most likely you have a supply cable (2 wire) and a switch loop (3 wire). Again, look at the switch.

    The most common configuration would be, Supply Black connected to Switch black. The Red from the switch to the BLUE to the light. The Black from the Fan connected to the Supply Black and the Switch Black.

    This configuration will supply constant power to the fan's pull chain and interrupted power to the light. The light will only work when the switch is in the "ON" position.
    OK... I have the black from the fan connected to the black from the box. The blue (light) from the fan to the red from the box. White to white and green to copper. Are you saying the maybe I should switch the black to red and blue to black? Again the light to the fan works with pull chain and switch but the fan does not work with pull chain or switch:(
    kemcderm's Avatar
    kemcderm Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #9

    May 19, 2014, 01:26 PM
    Soo... Don... what will it do if I switch the wires? Black to red and black to blue?

    Anyone else have any suggestions? Fan still will not work, tried everything short of calling an electrician that I can think of :(

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