[ddhiggi]

Thank you! It worked great... now I have another problem. In the 3 gang box by the front door I have the switch for the porch lite, 2 horizontal switches ( the top controls the top row of plugs and the bottom is supposed to control the fan) and then of course the 3-way which works.. everything works like it should but when I try to connect the fan (2-wire) the breaker blows. Here's the existing wiring.. the switch to the porch top screw-black going to porch light--bottom screw -black going to top screw of horizontal switch. The white of the porch light is capped with the white of the hot pair and the white of the 3-wire going to the plugs. The black of the hot pair is capped with the black of the 3-wire and a pigtail to the bottom screw of the horizontal switch. Oh and the red wire from the 3-wire is on the upper left screw of the horizontal switches. Oh boy! So how do I fit in the fan 2-wire down there?

[hkstroud]

First don't start a new thread each time you want to respond. Just use the "Answer this Question" block just like you were answering you own question. We need the background to keep information together.
The 3-way switch for the fan light should wired as described. The wiring of the switch for the porch light should be black of the cable coming from the fan/light box and black of the cable going to the light wired to the switch screws and the whites of those cables wire nuted together.

Note that on the 2-in-1 switch that the two screws on the output side are connected together by a tab. If you want to use the switch as two separate switches remove that tab. If you are using the top half of the 2-in-1 switch for the fan connect the black and white wire of the cable from the fan/light box to the top screws on either side.

Apparently you want to use the bottom half of the 2-in-1 to control some outlets which have not been mentioned before. Tell me what you are trying to do.

[ddhiggi]

That's correct the top of the horizontal switches is meant for the plugs and the bottom of the horrizontal switches is meant for the fan but since the top right screw wire is going to the switch for the porch light and the bottom right screw is capped with the blacks and the top left of the horizontal switches is the red from the 3-wire used for the plugs I didn' know where to put the white/black for the fan. Everything is working like it should except for the fan of course when I tried to connect the white to the only vacant screw and cap with the other blacks my breaker blew.

[hkstroud]

You are confusing me. You have a 3 gang switch box, correct? In that box you have a 3-way switch, a regular switch, and a 2-in-1 switch. Is that correct? You have separated the screws that are connected buy a tab, correct?

[ddhiggi]

That's all correct.. I haven't removed the tab yet, I haven't had a chance to get over there since you told me to do that.. when I do should I take off the bottom black wire that's pigtailed over to the hot lead since that's the switch supposed to be for the fan and put down the black for the fan and move the black pigtailed to hot over to the left bottom screw since now that's the one that's vacant or does it make any difference?

[hkstroud]

That's the part that is confusing me. At this point you should have the 3-way switch installed. You should have the black of the porch power line to connected to the regular switch, the black of the line going to the porch light connected to the regular switch, the whites of that line connected together. You should have the black and white of the fan wire connected to the top or bottom screws of the 2-in-1 switch. Nothing more.

[ddhiggi]

I do have a 3-way installed and works great. The only thing on it is the 3-way from the other side so that's why I'm not bringing it up.
My dad had wired the 3-gang box and when You told me how to do the attic I wired it up and everything worked. So now yesterday I ran the 2-wire for the fan to work independently of the light and can't figure where to put it. The top right of the regular switch screw goes to the (black) porch lite. The bottom screw on the reg. switch goes to the top right of the double switch (horizontal)screw and the bottom screw of the double switch is pigtailed over and capped with the black of the hot pair and the black of the 3-wire coming up from the bottom (plugs) the red of the 3-wire is on the top left of the double switch (horizontal) switch and all the whites are capped together. I know its weird but it all worked until I wanted to add the fan wire. Should I move these around and to where?

[hkstroud]

Yes, just wire the switches as instructed. That will complete the fan/light. Then we will wire in the outlets and the switch for them. And never the twain shall meet.

[ddhiggi]

Ha! That's all I've been doing before I wrote in is trying to untwain! I'm going over tomorrow morning will let you know what happens if I don't electrocute myself!

[ddhiggi]

Well I couldn't get it to work.. The 3-way switches turn on both the fan and the light from both the living room and kitchen like its supposed to. I rewired the single switch for the porch light to where it has power coming in bottom screw and black top screw going to the light and even the top horizontal switch turns on the plugs. I wired the black and white to the bottom horizontal switch for the fan but nothing happens. Up in the attic I have a blue,black,white,grd coming up from the fan/light. I wired a 3 wire about 4 feet long from where the light comes up in the attic to go to my junction box. In the box for the fan/light I put blk/blk, white/white/and I put blue to red Just to get it over to the junction box now what? I tried different combinations but nothing seems to work.. I pulled down the bottom of the fan/light and it only has in the bottom where the lights are it had a white and black and in the fan part it had a white and a blue so we connected the white/white and the blue to the blk . There's all sorts of other wires up in there too but their all permanently capped. Is it even possible to operate the fan independently with a separate switch?

[hkstroud]

I rewired the single switch for the porch light to where it has power coming in bottom screw and black top screw

What do you mean black screw? How many screws does that switch have?

Up in the attic I have a blue,black,white,grd coming up from the fan/light. I wired a 3 wire about 4 feet long from where the light comes up in the attic to go to my junction box.

What does that mean? You said you had power coming to the fan/light box.

In the box for the fan/light I put blk/blk, white/white/and I put blue to red Just to get it over to the junction box now what?

I gave you the wiring to take power to the 3-way switches and back for the light, and to take power to the fan switch and back and to the switch for the porch light and then to the porch light itself. I don't know what red wire you are talking about unless it's the red between switches. That wire only takes power from one switch to the other.

I pulled down the bottom of the fan/light

Put it back and leave it alone.

You seem to want to add the wiring for the outlets. Take it out and leave it alone for now. It's a separate thing. It's even on a different circuit. We will add it later. Do the wiring as previously directed.

[ddhiggi]

Sorry about the black thing.. I meant black wire not screw. That was on the single switch for the porch light, I wired as instructed and it works fine. I took a piece of 3-wire to come from the fan box in the attic to go over to my junction box just because it had the black, blue, and white to connect to. I connected the blue coming up from the fan with the red in the 3-wire just because it was the only one left.. the black went to black and the white to white.. thats in the fan ceiling box. The junction box is only a few feet away where all these wires converge... the power feed, the 2 3-wires for the 2 3-ways, the porch light 2-wire, and the fan 2-wire and then the 3 wire going over to the fan box. Sorry its so confusing. I'm not too good about explaining... so in all I have 2 metal boxes one for the fan and one where all these wires come together. I took the bottom part of the fan/light off to see if it was even possible to separate the light and fan function. I put it back and I'll leave it alone. But I still have the bottom of the horizontal switch / right bottom scew black wire and left bottom screw white wire/ with the 2-wire fan coming from the attic that won't turn on the fan or off for that matter. The fan comes on with the 2 3 ways though..

[hkstroud]

Back to the fan/light.

Connect the blue of the fan/light (that should be the light wire) to the black coming back from one of the 2-way switches. The blue in the fan box will be red in the junction box. Connect the black of the fan/light (that should be the fan wire) to the black of the cable going to the fan switch. The black in the fan box will be black in the junction box. Sounds like you connected both the blue and the black of the fan /light to the black coming back from the 3-way switch.

[ddhiggi]

Thanks I'll try that,, you're a genius for understanding what I write!

[hkstroud]

Where are you? Are you working yet?