Putting in a ceiling fan/light combination in new construction. Now, every ceiling fan I’ve ever dealt with before had two pull chains – one to turn the lights on and off, and one to turn on/off the fan or adjust the speed.
I can’t remember if your typical ceiling fan has a white and black wire for the lights, and then a white and black wire for the ceiling fan. I seem to remember something about a blue wire, and potentially the white and blue wire from the fan went to the white from the box.
The reason I ask is that I’d like to have two switches on the wall – one that controls the lights, and one for the fan. For the electrical, do I have them run two sets of 14/2 from the light switch to the ceiling fan box? Or, does it take some kind of special three wire line?
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You just need regular 14/3 wire from the switch. One hot controls the lights, the other controls the fan. They share the same neutral.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
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And you'd need a special fan/light switch? You wouldn't/couldn't use two single pole switches to control that, could you?
I was looking at the fan/light switches. I was surprised how expensive they were (typically in the $30 range), and I wasn't really all that thrilled with them (at least a few of them had very uncomfortable switches for the light - which is something that is switched on and off all the time).
special switch is not required unless yo want to control speed at the wall. Regular single pole switches will work in a double box or you could put in a double switch (two single poles) that uses a duplex outlet cover plate.in the fan itself the blue wire is the hot to the light, black is hot to the fan. With the 14/3 with ground the black would be hot to the fan from the wall switch and the red would be the hot to the light from the wall switch. All whites go together and bare copper and green go together.
TFB (Bill)
Well, yes and no.
As others mentioned here, you only need the 14/3 wiring if you use a hardwire fan/light control. Yes, you do need to use one of those $30 controlers as everything is built into them, and they have the instructions in the packaging to show you how to wire it.
It'd suggest the 14/3 wiring even if you use a remote. I have 7 ceiling fans in my house (no AC), and I ran them all with just 12/2. I should have run the */3. It gives more flexibility. My last house, I had the fan on one control, but the light was on a three way switch (could switch from the door and also from the bedside)
We have three different remote contol types in our house, and one type does not talk to the others, unfortunatly. On our nicest fan, it can only be run from remote.Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Save the Whales! and Guns!
let me throw this at ya. when i built my house i strung wire for light and fan,thought it was the only way to do it. when we got done went out and bought our fans.
almost all of the decent fans now are remote,one wire to power it and the remote works what you want. still probably not a bad idea to seperate wire but now i have to make sure the fan switch is "on" so i can use the remote.
if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
I agree Larry. I also had the fans separately wired with switches. It drove me nuts to try to figure out if the remote was off or the switch was off. I would never put a separate circuit on their again. Bob's next test date: 12/10/07
There are still a large number of fans without remotes.The only type of remote that I like is one that uses a wall mounted switch that communicates through standard 2 wire wiring. And they allow reversing from the wall switch. I can't remember the brand, but they are a high end line.For convential fan/lights wire them with 3 wire cable. They you have full option for whatever you want to do.You can get a single gang fan/light control. That gives you fan speed (but not direction) control and light dimmer.You can use 2 separete devices. A switch or fan speed controller for the fan. A switch or dimmer for the lights.You can use duplex switch in a single gang box. And only have on/off control for both the lights and speed.Another option is to put continous power on one wire and use the pull chain for the fan and the switch/dimmer for the lights.A couple of points. In most case you want a wall switch for the lights and having to into a room and find the chain for the light is a PITA.If the location is high or will be obstructed by furniture then you want wall speed control. But in many places pulling the chain for fan is no problem.If you use CFL's (or might be forced to in the future) then you don't want a dimmer controlling the lights. At the present time I don't know of a single gang device that controls fan speed, but just a switch for lights.And don't forget to use fan rated boxes.PS. I mention all of this for lurkers. And if you currently have a fan wired with a power comming into ceiling the box and 2 wire switch leg then you can set it up so that the light is controlled by the wall switch and the fan by the pull chain..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Edited 6/29/2008 2:06 pm by BillHartmann
You might clarify your PS, I think you mean power coming in to the ceiling box, would not work if power is supplied at the wall box.
I will.But if power is coming into the switch box then you don't have a switch leg..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I was just trying to eliminate some potential confusion, you are certainly correct.
As a ceiling fan installer, white will always be common between fan motor and light. The wire for the light will usually be blue or black with white stripe (white) and the black will be for the motor. It is highly recommend that the box in the ceiling be wored with 14-3 so you can control the motor and the light kit separately. Not a real big fan of remote controls seem like I see someone every day that has a remote go bad or the receiver burn out. that's fine and dandy if you don't mind climbing up on the ladder to change the receiver in the canopy.
Others have given good advice but I would add that if your circuit is on a 20 amp breaker you will need to use 12/3 instead of 14/3. If it is only going to be lighting I would use a 15amp and do it all on that ckt in 14. There is nothing wrong with using 12 for the main runs except it may confuse someone later who does not know that there is 14 downstream. Then use 14/3 for the switch legs for any place you might ever want to put a fan.
If you choose to used any of the wired fan speed controls get ones with distinct speeds rather than the variable (like light dimmers) because the latter tends to creat hum. Your fans should be left on the high setting on the pull chain (for starting) and then started on the max from the wall speed control, then adjusted.
If you are fine with just turning light and fan off at wall use a stack switch if desired ( was mentioned earlier) below is picture. The one pictured is a three way but you need the single pole version (just has fewer screws on side) did not find picture of that version, the switch arrangement is identical.
Bob
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