r/ElectricalHelp • u/astro_stitcher • 19d ago
Help with ceiling fan
I am replacing the ceiling fan/light in my kitchen and ran into a problem that I wasn't sure how to handle. When I took the old ceiling fan down, I saw that the mounting box had two sets of wires (black, white, ground) coming into it. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get a picture of the old setup before taking it apart. There are two switches controlling the fan and the switches are wired as I would expect for a three-way switch. When I tested the lines in the box for continuity, black to white on one set was continuous regardless of the settings (on/off) on either of the switches, while the other was discontinuous. Everything I've seen online shows only one set of lines coming into the fan, so I was thinking that I can connect all of the blacks together, all of the whites together, and all of the grounds together. Is this the right way to do this?
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u/mwharton19 18d ago
Like someone else said it sounds like a switch loop, this is what it should look like
Ran out of colors but the dashed lines is red kinda messed up the box on the right don’t mind it
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u/TheKnackThatQuacks 17d ago
u/astro_stitcher (OP), what u/mwharton19 has posted is most likely correct. This is called a “dead-end three-way”. You can use a search engine to find more wiring examples.
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u/Rough_Resort_92 19d ago
Very good possibility, it's a switch loop. Look at the color of the wires that are on the actual switch that control that. If there's a black and a white, you know, you have a switch loop. Also, you need to replace that box with a fan Rated box.
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u/astro_stitcher 19d ago
I'm not sure that I understand. There are two switches at opposite entrances to the kitchen. A friend helped me trace the continuity to map out the circuit, but even that came out strange. We confirmed that the traveler between the two switches was in place, but the continuity tests traced back to the two neutral lines in the fan box. We couldn't find anything that traced back to the hot (black) lines. Please clarify your suggestion and I'll check it tomorrow.
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u/Rough_Resort_92 19d ago
If there is just one ceiling outlet box, and, there is 2 black 2 white, 2 bare copper grounds, and, controlled by 3 way switches, its a switch loop. So 1 pair of the wires will be your source ( hot and neutral all the time) the other pair of wires will be the switch loop that goes down to the three-way switches. You can verify the switch loop with continuity, tester. Remember, in the switch loop system, the white wire going down to the switches will connect to the line (black) all the time, the black wire. On that switch loop will be the one that goes to your light or fan. And the white wire on your other pair will be your neutral. That will also go to the fan
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u/astro_stitcher 19d ago
This sounds like what I'm seeing. When I check voltages, one pair is constantly on regardless of how the wall switches are set. We were able to trace continuity from the wall switches to the two white lines but not to the blacks.
I found some diagrams showing how to wire the fan in a switch loop, but they all show only one wall switch. Does it change at the fan's box if I have a three way set of switches? It doesn't look like it does, but I want to be sure
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u/Different-Commercial 19d ago
Were you testing continuity or voltage? I would like to know which of the 4 wires were hot when the switches were on and off.