ceiling fan ground

[AKA gray asphalt]

Two outdoor ceiling fans need to be replaced. The ground isn't connected on either. Where do I connect it on the new units? Thanks, : -)

[AKA gray asphalt]

OK. But how does that ground the fan? Is the fan grounded through its connection screws to the metal box? I guess so, huh.

in a plastic box

[RBM]

Attach it to the metal box, if you have one or connect it to the ground wire in a plastic box

[Tim Fischer]

No, you're not supposed to rely on the screw connections for grounding purposes.

There should be a green screw somewhere on the fan chassis. That's your ground connection.

If, for some reason, there's not, just connect it anywhere on the metal chassis.

-Tim

[AKA gray asphalt]

a screw and a green ground wire attached to it

This one needs to be flush mounted. I keep missing this idea. It seems to me that the fan motor housing needs to be grounded to the bracket ant the bracket needs to be grounded to the box where the wires come out. There is a bare wire from the box which I could attach to the green wire attached to the bracket but then how is the bracket attached to the fan? Or I could attach the wire from the bracket to the fan but how then would it be grounded to the box?

[RBM]

Most fans hang from a ball hangar which is attached to a metal stem which has a screw and a green ground wire attached to it

[RBM]

Without seeing your equipment, it's hard to guess, but if the fan bracket is grounded to the box and the fan is screwed to the bracket, I'd say its grounded

[No]

[AKA gray asphalt]

I did. And it's not a manual ... a four page, two language cramped, incomplete, badly drawn piece of crap.

has a screw and a green ground wire attached to it

[AKA gray asphalt]

grounded to the box and the fan is screwed to the

has a screw and a green ground wire attached to it

I'm pretty sure that you are right. That's the way it's going to stay ... : -)

Can you tell me how to do this ... There are 4 wires coming out of the roof. One seems to be hot, a second hot and switched from a wall switch, one ground, and one neutral.

The instructions tell me how to wire it so that both the fan and light are controlled by the chains on the fan by connecting both to the continuous power line. If I connect both to the switched power then I should be able to turn everything off at the wall switch and when it's on control both with the chains, right? Thanks so much for your help, everyone. I hope I've learned enough to do the next one myself. And I know how lame that sounds to people who really know this stuff... : -)

[trader4]

"There are 4 wires coming out of the roof. One seems to be hot, a second hot and switched from a wall switch, one ground, and one neutral. "

With only one wire coming from the switch, and one direct hot, your choices are limited. You can only control either the fan or the light from the switch, not both. The other option is to get a remote, with which you can control both. In that case, the little box that comes with the remote gets wired direct to hot and the fan and light then are wired to the little remote box.

[AKA gray asphalt]

Can't I run the light and the fan from one wire? If I only had a direct hot they would both be controlled by the chains ... so if I run both off of the switched hot, they should both be turned off by the wall switch, no? I know I won't be able to control fan speed except by the chains ...