How to Wire a Ceiling Fan to a Light Switch

How to wire up and install a ceiling fan.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Ceiling fan
• Wire nuts
• Electrical tape
• Wire stripper or wire cutter
• Sturdy ladder

1. FIRST: Turn off the power at the breaker box. Turn on the light where you plan to install the ceiling fan. Make sure that when you turn off the breaker or remove the fuse, that the light goes off. Now turn off the light switch as a double protection. Make sure no one else tries to turn the power back on while you are working.

2. Carefully remove the ceiling fan from its box. Read the assembly instructions. Screw together the wood fan blades to the metal handles, but don't screw the blades onto the fan motor yet. It will be easier to install the fan motor, then screw on the blades.

3. Remove the bulbs and any glass covers or other parts that can be easily removed from the existing light fixture. Now remove the existing light fixture. Remove the screws and carefully lower the light about 6 inches to expose the wiring. Typically, there are three wires. A bare wire or green wire that is the ground wire. The white wire is the neutral wire, and the black or red wire is the hot wire. Remove the wire nut or electrical tape from one wire at a time. Once you have a wire separated, place a wire nut to cover the exposed wire coming down from the ceiling. This way you never have more than one wire exposed at a a time. Once you have removed all the wires, you can remove the existing light fixture.

4. * Check the ceiling mounted electrical box to see if it is strong enough to hold the ceiling fan. You will probably need to reinforce the box in order to carry the heavier weight of the fan. If the attic allows access to the top of the electrical box, you can reinforce it from the ceiling by installing a bracket or 2x4 above the box and screwing in the box to the reinforcing bracket.

5. * If you have not already assembled the fan, go ahead and assemble everything, except do not install the blades, pullchains, or any glass parts yet. Check the wires for the ceiling fan. There will typically be three wires: a green or bare wire that is the ground, a white wire that is the neutral, and a red or black wire that is the hot wire. Check the fan instructions to verify each of the wires.

6. Install the ceiling fan bracket included with the ceiling fan. This piece connects to the ceiling electrical box. There is usually a temporary hook on the ceiling fan bracket to hang the fan to while you hook up the wires. Working with one wire at a time, start with the green/bare ground wire. Connect the ceiling fan ground wire to the ground wire in the electrical box. Carefully wrap the two bare wires together, then insert the end of the bare wires into a wire nut and turn the wire nut a few turns until the wires tighten up. Then wrap some electrical tape around the wire nut and the wires to keep everything in place. Now, do the same for the white wires. Connect the white wire to the white wire. Twist a wire nut over the wires and tape it up. Now connect the black wire to the black wire and tape it up. Carefully, push each of the wires up into the box, so that you can continue the fan installation. Make sure that no wires are exposed, except for the ground wire if it is bare wire. Make sure there is a wire nut over every connection. There should be no other bare wires other than the ground wire once you are done (If the ground wire is green, then there shouldn't be any bare wires when you are done).

7. Now follow the instructions included with your ceiling fan for installing the fan. Tighten screws to hold the fan up snuggly in place. The final step would be to install the fan blades to the fan.

8. With the wall switch turned off, switch the breaker back on. If the breaker clicks back off, then there is something wrong and you need to recheck your wiring connections. If the breaker stays on, then try turning on the light switch. The fan should start working. If not, then turn the light switch off and, check the fan for a pull chain or other switch.

Tips & Warnings

• If there is a light kit included with your ceiling fan, then the fan may have 4 wires. If the ceiling box has only one black wire, then you can twist together the light and fan wires (typically the red and black wires, but check the fan instructions) and connect both of those wires to the black wire in the ceiling box.
• If you are unsure of any of the wiring, if the wires have different colors, or if the wiring looks old, frayed, burned or shorted out, you need to have an electrician check it out.
• Always keep the power off at the breaker while you are working.
• If the ceiling electrical box is weak, cracked, or old, you will need to replace the box.
• Check the local building codes in your area to see if you must contact an electrician for assistance.

[jsenechal]

on 8/19/2009 Good article!

[mainman195]

on 8/17/2009 This entire article has been copied and posted at: http://www.ehow.com/how_5308399_wire-ceiling-fan-light-switch.html If this a problem for you, you may want to contact the site and ask that it be removed.