Have been commissioned to remove ceiling fan and install a ceiling light (she no longer wants fan) so anyway took fan down and there are 4 wires..........what is the red wire for? I am thinking black and white and ground are all that is needed for a light and to just tape red wire and not connect. any advise appreciated.
Correct. Though, don't rely solely on tape for the red wire, use a wire nut, then tape around it.
I think it would be quite irresponsible to just tape a wire like that while hoping and guessing. It would probably even make you civilly liable for damages if you are being paid. Suggest you figure it out or call someonewho can. You have a voltmeter, right? Careful.
Actually, if I were wiring it, the red would be for the light. It is pretty easy to make sure with a tester. The wire you want to hook the light will toggle on and off with the switch.
The black would be hot all the time. The red would be switched.
Maybe..... It depends. If it's a typical fan/light, with a wall switch to control it, then the black would not be hot all the time. One wire goes to fan motor, one wire goes to the light. Neither is hot all the time. He needs to figure out which wire goes on/off with the light switch. Then put a wire nut on the other one.
Your typical light-fan would have two switches. One for the fan and one for the light. Locate the switches, find which switch controls the red wire, and which switch controls the black wire, decide which switch/wire you want to use for your light. Either disconnect the other switch or leave it in place and use electric tape or wire nut on non used wire in ceiling box, and hang your light fixture and connect to neutral, ground, and whichever hot leg you've decided upon.
Yes, I agree. Maybe.
Some ceiling fans have the switch for the fan mounted on the fan. The fan needs to be hot all the time in that case. It takes a voltage tester or trial and error to find out.
I have three ceiling fans in my home and all are controlled by one switch. I believe that is the typical set-up but I've been wrong before. If two switches, then he does need to find which switch powers the light then disable the other.
Capping a wire and tucking back into a box is not a fire hazard providing it's nutted securely and taped. Otherwise, if one wants to pull wires from the box, walls, etc. to feel more secure, it's their home, go for it.
That may be a typical setup if a fan was installed at a location that was intended for a light fixture. When the installation was intended for a fan, it is typical for a professional, to install a three wire cable from the switch location to facilitate both a fan and a light, as well as a fan support box. Since the OP mentions a three wire cable, it was most likely an installation intended for a separately switched fan and light. FYI either electric tape or a wire nut will suffice to insulate a live unused conductor
The OP is guilty of not providing the information anyone else here needs to make an coherent & intelligent answer. We need to know if there was one sw itch for the lights and/or one switch for the fan, and was any switch invol ved with a three-way switching system presumably that would be for the ligh t, but we cannot make any assumptions.
OP - Come clean with the information we need!!!!
red and black are your "hot" wires, figure out which one is controlled by the switch and connect that to the light, cap the other one off with an orange wire nut, et voila. I'm assuming you know what to do with white (neutral) and bare or green (ground)
nate
ORR... one of them is controlled by the wall switch and the other is always hot, homeowner uses wall switch to control light and pull chain for fan (I've seen that more often than not.)
I've also seen some electricians use the red for switched and others the black. I personally would probably use the red but check.
nate
Best to use a voltmeter to see for yourself if a wire is hot but controlled by a switch, or hot all the time, or neutral, or ground.
You can check neutral and ground with an ohmmeter, but be sure to check the same two locations first with a voltmeter, so if the are hot, you won't burn out the ohmmeter.
Previous guy might have done something wrong.
I think the beautiful old house, complete with a back stairs, I lived in in college had the wires to the porch light backwards, the switch in the ground instead of the hot.
The switch in the ground?
Do you mean the switch in the neutral?
I would find a switched ground to be... shocking.
But, overall, I remain neutral. This could be a hot topic.
. Christ> micky wrote:
I once rented a house that had *carpet* in the big kitchen/dining room area. yeah, dumb. So I rented a carpet cleaner and was happily cleaning the carpet... in my bare feet, of course. Was starting to get a little warm and humid, so I opened the sliding glass door and turned on the ceiling fan (on pull chain) POW! 120 up my right arm.
Pulled it down & found that the wiring had been apparently hooked up completely randomly by whoever put it in... @#$%@#$!!! Fortunately landlord was cool about me fixing stuff once he figured out I knew what I was doing & wouldn't screw up his stuff.
nate
Glad you lived to tell about it. Sounds dangerous.
Actually, my parents house has carpet in the kitchen. And, I've extracted that carpet, too. Years later, needs it again. Powdered ultra Tide works well as cleaning chemical.
. Christ>
When I bought this house, it had carpet in the bathroom. It was OK until the toilet overflowed, and I could never get rid of the smell. I removed the carpet and found a good vinyl floor under it.
[snip]
The moment I read this line, I looked up at the top to see if whoever wrote it was one of our living posters or not.
I had a carpet remnant and trimmed it for my bathroom when I lived in the 3BR, 3Bath apt. in Brooklyn. One of my roommates said it would attract roaches, but it never did. He later turned out to be annoying.
It would have been really nice if I hadn't been off by an inch on the hole for the toilet.
The original floor was little black or white square tiles, and not glazed, smooth but not that smooth. I liked the carpet, but never thought to put carpet in the next place, here.
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