bathroom exhaust fan and new switch


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Old 09-29-09, 11:00 PM
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bathroom exhaust fan and new switch

I have two wires coming into the box 1 blk 1 white no ground...
the blk is hot.... I recently brought in new wires which belongs to the fan 1 blk 1wht 1green(ground) how do I get hot to the second switch???
 
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Old 09-30-09, 05:31 AM
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It would be very helpful if you could describe which box you are talking about when you say you have 2 wires in it. Also tell any connections that are already made.
 
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Old 09-30-09, 04:16 PM
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I know exactly what you did. We have remodeled tons of bathromms and run into your question.

You likely have a neutral -less switch box. What you currently have is a "switch loop" hooked to the existing switch, where the black and white wire is the hot wire coming from say a light, and then returning back to the light, where the switch return wire is hooked to one light wire and the other light wire is hooked to the neutral that is in the box behind the light

The easy part is how you ran the wire to get to the switch, so you can pigtail to a new switch in a now 2-gang box. But - if you do not have a neutral back at the bath fan, that is where you are going to have a problem. You have to get to a neutral.

If this is a totally new installation where you simply said, "I think I will stick a bath fan here", then I can bet you have no neutral - only the wire you ran between the fan and the switch. But - if say you changed out your light
to replace it with a fan-light combo, then you'd have no problem, as the ceiling light box would contain that needed neutral.

Many people like you run into your exact scenario and think they can easily make that second circuit work because they see two wires, thinking one is hot and the other is neutral. But that is not the case, unfortunately.

If you come back, we can help you more.
 
 

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