Pop, sparks, smoke


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Old 07-20-18, 06:49 PM
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Pop, sparks, smoke

Tonight while I was upstairs I hear a loud pop. Went downstairs to find my wife somewhat freaked out because there were sparks and smoke in the ceiling fan/light to accompany said pop. Happened when she turned on the dimmer. I looked at the light and there was smoke coming from one light of three.

There was no electricity in the room, so I checked the fuse box and the breaker was tripped. We made sure the light and fan were off and flipped the breaker. No problems.

I'm hoping it's just a problem with the 20+ year old light. Is that the most likely problem? Don't want to replace it and have more problems with a new one.

Other concern is it's on a dimmer and most of the lights I've seen online are LED and rumor has it LED and dimmer switches don't work and play well together. What problems might I have with it?
 
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Old 07-20-18, 08:04 PM
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If the dimmer is on the light only pull the light kit and look for a problem.

checked the fuse box and the breaker was tripped
No breakers in a fuse box.
 
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Old 07-21-18, 05:39 AM
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Originally Posted by ray2047
If the dimmer is on the light only pull the light kit and look for a problem.

No breakers in a fuse box.
Breaker in a fusebox is what my dad always called it.
 
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Old 07-21-18, 08:01 AM
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Bought a new switch and a new fan/light. Wires on the dimmer were red and black. Wires on the fan switch are white and black. I connected the new switch to match the existing switch (black on bottom red on top where white was on the other). Can't test yet because of the short.

Started to install the fan there are three wires in the ceiling. Instructions only deal with two so, best guess is to connect the white and red house wires to the white fan wire and the black house wire to the red fan/light wire as the instructions say. The harbor breeze website leaves a lot to be desired...

There is no blue wire to the lighting kit on the fan or I wouldn't have this problem.
 
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Old 07-21-18, 08:58 AM
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If your intentions are to run the new ceiling fan off of two switches then you need to get a fan that does not use an internal remote receiver. Your new fan needs to have the white, black and blue wires like the old one did.
 
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Old 07-21-18, 09:35 AM
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What do I do if I choose to run it off a single switch and use the remote?
 
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Old 07-21-18, 09:38 AM
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You use the remote to control the fan/light separately. Dimming is also from the remote only.
 
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Old 07-21-18, 10:14 AM
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I meant in terms of wiring the fan/wall switch. Right now red and black go to the light switch and black and white to the fan switch. It was on a dimmer so I wired the new switch based on the existing switch which has white going to the top connector and black to the bottom. So I did red to the top and black to the bottom for the new switch.
At this point, I think I'm going to go switch out the fan for one without a remote. Not sure if I'll put it back on the dimmer or not.
 
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Old 07-21-18, 10:25 AM
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You would use the color wire of the switch you are still using..... along with white.
 
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Old 07-21-18, 10:46 AM
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Hopefully last question:
Since I wasn't planning to use the dimmer, I didn't notice which house wires were connected to which wires on the dimmer. Both dimmer wires are black. Does it matter which ones I connect if I go back to it? Youtube videos make it appear like it doesn't matter.
 
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Old 07-21-18, 10:47 AM
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No difference if both dimmer wires are black.
 
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Old 07-21-18, 01:56 PM
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The saga has ended:

New fan. Red house to blue fan. Everything else by color. Everything works as expected. Now to the next electrical problem.
 
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Old 07-21-18, 02:47 PM
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Good job. Thanks for letting us know how you made out.
 
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Old 08-20-18, 06:31 PM
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Was the fan bad? Wondering because I am having a similar issue with a fan shorting once every month
 
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Old 08-20-18, 07:06 PM
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You are visibly seeing where the wiring is shorting.
That means there is some rough edge where it's rubbing.
 
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Old 08-21-18, 09:43 AM
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Which is odd because it is in a spot where nothing should even be moving...So far it seems okay but am just nervous that it could be something wrong with the fan itself.
 
 

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