ceiling fan with light woes


  #1  
Old 10-07-02, 02:18 PM
elnorac
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Question ceiling fan with light woes

Hi there. I'm removing an overhead ceiling fan/light combination fixture that is controlled by one wall switch. (On the fixture itself there are separate switches so that if you want to turn off just one or the other you can.) I'm replacing it with a light fixture only. I took the fixture off, and am dismayed to find black, white, and red wires! No ground in sight. I have two questions:

1) Both black and red are hot. Can I just wire-nut them together when I put up the light fixture?

2) Don't I have to arrange for a ground? Does that mean I have to crawl up in the attic, find the source of the wire that goes to the fixture and run a ground back to it? You know there might be bugs up there, right? Like spiders? Yick. If that's what I have to do, what kind of wire should I buy for the ground wire?

Ah, I'm learning to resent the previous owner's quick and dirty remodel job...


Thanks for any help you might be able to offer. Doityourself.com is wonderful!
 
  #2  
Old 10-07-02, 03:09 PM
J
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First you need to figure out why there is both a black and a red wire there. If you open up the switch box and see what's there, that should probably answer the question. Do not just wire nut them together. There is no room for guessing in electrical work.

If you don't have a ground, you don't have a ground. There's no law that says you must have one, except in new wiring.
 
  #3  
Old 10-07-02, 03:44 PM
elnorac
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further info about fan

Thanks, John. So I checked the switch box, and here's what I found: There's 12-3 that comes into it. The white is capped to the other whites, of course, the red goes into the switch in question, and the black goes into a pigtail. Out of the pigtail, one black wire goes to the switch in question, and another goes on to another switch in the same box (which controls a light on the patio). Does this clear anything up for you? It sure doesn't for me. Thanks, Elnora.
 
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Old 10-07-02, 04:33 PM
jlbos83
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If there is only the one cable in the ceiling, it sounds like you have full time power on the black (probably for the fan, to be controlled by the pull cord, and switched power on the red. If there is another cable up there, the power could be coming through there on the black, to the switches. A little more info required about what is up there.
 
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Old 10-07-02, 05:57 PM
J
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If you were to connect the black and red together at the ceiling, the light would be on and never go off. Very carefully and securely put a wire nut on the black wire at the ceiling -- tape it on so it doesn't fall off. Then connect the light to the red (to the light's black wire) and white (to the light's white wire).

P.S. There is nothing "quick and dirty" about this wiring. It is very sound.
 
  #6  
Old 10-08-02, 03:21 PM
elnorac
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next chapter

Thanks for all of your input. So my sweet husband crawled up in the attic, and what he found was a box (which wasn't visible through the small, hacked-out hole in the drywall). It contained a regular 12-2 cable, not a 12-3. The black wire was pig-tailed, with a black and red coming off of the pig-tail, and that's what was hanging down the hole. Plus the white. I guess that must be because the fan needed separate wires for the motor and light.

He took apart the pig-tail, discarded the red wire, then reconnected it, so only the black wire hung through the hole (with the white one). He connected the light, and it works fine.

This doesn't make me understand why a 12-3 cable goes into the switch box, but it seems like we're okay now... Am I dreaming? It's worth noting that the other single-pole switch in the same box also has 12-3 running to it, and it just goes to a light on the patio.

Thanks,
Elnora
 
 

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