Ceiling fan fuse blow question. (2023 Update)

[cdmt]

To start my new home was built in 2002. I'm installing a ceiling fan in a bedroom. (all bedrooms are ceiling fan ready)

I have installed many ceiling fans before. They are simple enough (3 wires) however I think I am running into a non-simple problem. I absolutely had my light switch turned off in the bedroom. So I unscrewed the old light fixture exposing the 3 wires. I simply cut the 3 wires. Instantly blew a fuse. I saw NO spark, was not shocked or anything.

Also in my sons bedroom, I am sure that I wired the ceiling fan correctly. (black on black, white on white, ground on ground) The fan works perfectly, however if I pull the string to turn on the lights, a fuse blows. (This is in a different bedroom).

My living room and master bedroom fans work fine and I wired them the same way. The two bedrooms.

Could it be that I cut the ground with one of the other wires at the same time?

Thanks Christian R.

[I-zheet M'drurz]

So? You turn the *breaker* off, not the switch. In theory it should work the same way, but you're discarding all of the intangibles and disregarding safety. Don't do that.

How did you know you "instantly" blew a fuse?

Who wired the light kit to the ceiling fan? You?, or was it prewired?

Two possibilities come to mind, based on what you've presented:

a) You're trolling

b) Your light switches in these rooms were wired by either an idiot or a blind man. I would start there, making sure the switch is connected to two black wires, and only two black wires (and ground to green screw, if present)

[HA HA Budys Here]

If these ceiling fan ready boxes have only 1 switch, the black (or red) might be hot at all times, meant to feed the fan to be controlled via pullchain, or spliced through at the switchbox as a hot leg, and only the light is switched. Cutting through hot, neutral, ground and switchleg would cause a short in this case even if the light switch on the wall is off.

[I-zheet M'drurz]

I thought about something like that, but he tells us he's only working with black, white and ground, which is why I maybe smell a troll. (Just trying to get 50 replies to a stupid question that's physically impossible to exist, that kind of troll.)

So the only thing pops into my head is maybe some minimim-wage- summer-electrician-helper-wannabe wired his wall switches into the whites and not the blacks.

[Chris Lewis]

I'm thinking the whole house was wired that way. House built in 2002 with _fuses_? Ahem.

If there's only a black, white, and ground, it _may_ be that both the black and white are hot (one being switched), and they're using the ground for the neutral. Bad electrician, no cookie.

Or the switch wasn't really off and he cut the hot black and neutral white at the same time.

I am finding it strange that turning the light on blows something - I can't think of any way a correctly functioning light fixture could do that no matter how badly miswired.

Defective light unit on the fan maybe.

Could this be a GFCI or AFCI circuit and he's calling them "fuses"? A GFCI would trip if the neutral/ground connection got confused. If you cut thru both the hot and neutral at the same time, it makes a massive bang and melts the cutters, and that didn't happen. With a GFCI, just cutting the neutral and ground together may cause it to trip without making any noise, potentially even if the branch circuit is off.

[cdmt]

I assure all of you I am not trolling.

This is a Hampton Bay Hunnington III fan.

I need to correct my last post. I have a White, Red, Black, and Ground.

I found that If I touch the white to the ground, that blows the fuse. With the light switch OFF. I suppose that this white remains hot.

-Christian R.

[jim]

ceiling fans/lights have power to them when you take them apart and dont turn off the power... they always have power in the box on the ceiling(you have one two wire cord going down the wall to the wall switch and it is left open until you turn the switch and then you complete the circuit and thats how it turns on....................

[Chris Lewis]

According to cdmt :

With a big bang or not? Unless you get a big bang, it's not hot.

Are you really really sure your house is wired with _fuses_?

_Usually_, a circuit like that will use white for neutral, red and black for switched and unswitched hot (I use red for switched, but this is individual preference) and the bare ground.

However, if the power goes to the fixture first and thence to the switch, the white going to the switch will usually be unswitched hot and the red or black will be the switched hot returning back to the fixture.

[But in this case, you shouldn't have a red wire.]

Are there one or two cables in the ceiling box?

You can't tell from this level of diagnostics.

You will probably need a voltage tester.

And please, don't fool around in the box without killing the whole circuit _first_.

[HA HA Budys Here]

You would think that, if you were having an electrical problem and were going to present it on a newsgroup, you'd get the colors right the first time and give accurate and complete information.

"OOPS I forgot there was a 3rd red wire" just doesn't cut it.

[cdmt]

Yeah you would think. Unfortunately I'm human and make mistakes. I wish I could be more perfect and never make mistakes just like you.

By the way I got the problem sorted.

-Christian R.

[Pat]

If you blow a fuse 5 times due to improper wiring installation will it damage the light pull switch or will the new switch still be okay