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Posted by KOS on July 17, 2005, 9:17 am
Hi, I am attempting to connect a new ceiling fan to an older house.
There was a ceiling fan here but it isnt working. The fan that I will
install has no light.
As the wires are very old its hard to tell which is white and which is
red.
Is there a test that I can do to tell which is which? red or black?
Thanks
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Posted by RBM on July 17, 2005, 1:20 pm
Red or black isn't the object. You want the pair that gives you a 120 volt
circuit. When you remove the existing fan, see which wires it was connected
to. The new fan will probably have three wires on it. Black and white will
usually power the fan and some other color like blue or black with white
stripes will power the light. If your not using a light kit, just don't
connect that wire. If your existing fan had a fan and a light and each had
their own control, you need to determine which wires in the box are fed by
which control and connect the fan accordingly. To simply test the wires to
see which is hot and which is neutral, you can use a light bulb in a pigtail
socket. Touch one lead to a wire in the box and the other lead to the metal
box. Whichever wire in your box gives you a light is your hot wire. This
test is contingent on your electrical system being grounded though.
> Hi, I am attempting to connect a new ceiling fan to an older house.
> There was a ceiling fan here but it isnt working. The fan that I will
> install has no light.
>
> As the wires are very old its hard to tell which is white and which is
> red.
>
> Is there a test that I can do to tell which is which? red or black?
> Thanks
>
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Posted by wkearney99 on July 17, 2005, 3:33 pm
> Hi, I am attempting to connect a new ceiling fan to an older house.
> There was a ceiling fan here but it isnt working. The fan that I will
> install has no light.
Why was the old fan not working? If it's the wiring then a new fan won't
help. Why no light on the new one?
Take a good look at the various add-on remote controls you can get for fans.
The one with a temperature sensor on it is VERY handy. This way the wall
switch can be left for controlling the light and the remote automagically
handles the fan.
> As the wires are very old its hard to tell which is white and which is
> red.
Color doesn't matter. It SHOULD matter but you're at the mercy of whomever
installed the wire in the first place. Yes, white should be neutral but
ALWAYS check it. Red's supposed to be hot from the wall switch. A simple
voltmeter test should tell you if a wire is live or not. Just test the wire
with the switch on and off and see how it comes out. It's not uncommon for
a ceiling box to have all three; neutral, hot and switched. But it's
likewise just as possible for it to only have neutral and switched. It
depends on where the wire went first, from the breaker to the ceiling or the
wall switch?
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Posted by KOS on July 17, 2005, 2:00 pm
the reason for the new fan is that the fly wheel is broken.
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Posted by Sacramento Dave on July 17, 2005, 5:35 pm
> Hi, I am attempting to connect a new ceiling fan to an older house.
> There was a ceiling fan here but it isnt working. The fan that I will
> install has no light.
>
> As the wires are very old its hard to tell which is white and which is
> red.
>
> Is there a test that I can do to tell which is which? red or black?
> Thanks
>
You could wire a plug on it and test it with a plug in circuit tester.I
don't know what the actual name of tester is. Plugs into an outlet has two
yellow lights one red light . By how the light you know if your plug is
correct. Test for Open Ground, open neutral, open hot, hot/ground reverse,
hot/neutral reveres and correct. Handy little tool. You can also try and
clean the wires with Koof off or something like that. The wires get
overspray on the when the ceiling is painted .
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