Recently purchased property in the US, built in 1956. One bedroom has a lightswitch by the door that seems like it should control the ceiling fixture, but it doesn't. The ceiling fixture is a fan (with a remote, if it matters) and the fan can be turned on and off via the remote regardless of the switch position. So the ceiling fixture is always powered. I've also tested all of the outlets in the room and none of them are controlled by the switch. My questions:
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Where do I go from here? I've been hesitant to pull the switch out of the wall to investigate because I don't know for sure what circuit it's on. I suppose I could just turn off the whole house to investigate safely, but I'm still not totally sure what I'm looking for.
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My leading theories are that either the switch itself is faulty and stuck on, or the previous owner did some kind of bypass when the fan was installed.
Any thoughts on this?
UPDATE: Didn't have a ton of time last night to investigate, but I checked both plugs on all the outlets in the room, none seem tied to the switch. Still could be the tab. Removed the cover from the switch and at first glance it seems normal-ish. There's wiring in the box, and it connects to the switch. This is 1950s wiring so it's not super obvious at a glance which wire is which. I'll have to pull the switch out to tell more.
UPDATE Again: Found the breaker. The circuit contains quite a few things:
- the bedroom ceiling fixture in question
- all the outlets in the bedroom
- a hallway ceiling light nearby
- a bathroom ceiling light nearby
- a GFCI outlet in the bathroom
The hallway and bathroom lights on the circuit have light switches that work correctly. The bedroom fixture is the only one stuck on. What's weird is it appears to be wired as a 3-way, see the pic. Bonus terrible rotted 1950's wiring insulation included. Am I interpreting that wiring wrong? Why does it look like a 3-way, but doesn't operate as a 3-way with any other switches? Anyway, next step is to check the receptacles on the circuit for any switched ones.
Although I'm beginning to suspect the switch is simply bypassed at the fan, apparently that is more common than I realized.
Best Answer
A switch is required by code in most places for most rooms - that way you automatically know how to easily turn on the light. But code does not (generally) mandate a particular lighting method, so many builders don't bother to put in the light fixture and just connect the switch to a receptacle for the homeowner to plug in a lamp. One of the first things I did after moving into my house (and I was not the first owner - people just don't realize they can change things, I guess) was to have ceiling lights installed in the bedrooms and connect the existing switches to them and disconnect the switches from the receptacles.
Three likely possibilities:
The switch was disconnected from whatever it originally switched. This could be an originally switched receptacle or it could be the ceiling fixture - e.g., to always be able to use the remote and not have a problem of being unable to turn it on with the remote because somebody had turned off the switch. If that's the case then if you open the switch you will either find no wires connected to the switch (i.e., disconnected from the switch and now bypassing the switch) or wires connected to the switch but none of them with any power (i.e., a non-contact voltage tester will show nothing on any of the wires).
The switch is supposed to control half of a receptacle. The receptacle was replaced at some time (to fix a broken receptacle, or for a different color to match new paint, or whatever) and the tab connecting the top & bottom hot screws was not removed.
The switch is supposed to control an entire receptacle. The wiring was redone at the receptacle at some time in order to make the receptacle always hot but the switch wires were left in place.