I recently purchased a ceiling fan – Harbor Breeze Tilghman WITHOUT a light – to replace a ceiling fan WITH a light. The wires coming from the (old)ceiling are red, black, white, green, and copper. The green wire is coming from the ceiling mounting bracket. I do know the light worked on the previous fan before replacement, but the fan motor had long burned out. On the new fan, the wires are white, blue, and black; with the green ground wire from the downrod.
The old fan connected to one switch, which turned on both the fan and light, then we could use the pull chains to turn either/or off as desired.
I have tried multiple wiring combinations and still the fan does not work. What wiring combinations do you suggest – aside from the obvious white-white, black-black, and green to green, I'm not sure if I need to connect the red (from the ceiling) or the blue (from the fan – since we don't have a light on this fan) to anything or to simply leave the alone and wrapped in electrical tape. Any suggestions??
Electrical – How to wire a ceiling fan
ceiling-fanelectricalwiring
Related Solutions
If you want the fan and light to operate separately, then connecting the wires as you described is the way to go. If you want the whole fixture to be controlled from a single switch, the manual is describing the proper wiring.
As for the green grounding wire, simply attach it to the green grounding wire in the ceiling. You should use an appropriately sized ring or fork terminal, to connect the ground under the same screw as the ground from the ceiling.
Is there a switch in the room, and does the current ceiling fan have both a light and a fan?
The easiest way I've found to do this is to get a multimeter($5) and use it to determine which wire is hot (in the US, this is usually the black one). The next challenge is to determine which wire (if any) is switched), and you do that by checking each wire with the switch on and off.
Chances are, your new ceiling fan has hot (black), neutral (white), and ground (green). Typically, you would hook it up black -> black, white ->white, and green to either green or to a green grounding screw in the junction box, and you would cap (i.e. put a wire nut on) the switched wire.
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Best Answer
Absolutely do not leave the wires alone wrapped in electrical tape. Electrical tape does not have enough longevity to safely protect the exposed leads and can create a hazard in the future.
The blue wire exists to support the future addition of a light. The polite thing to do for your future self or future owner of your home would be to connect the blue and red wires. However, it is not necessary; if you do not want to, you can cap both leads with wire nuts.
Note that it is also legitimate to connect the black on the fan to the red from the ceiling, and the blue on the fan to the black from the ceiling. Assuming you have two switches, that will swap which switch controls the fan and which switch controls the light.
If the existing black-black connection doesn't work, you can try the black-red. If that does work, it would suggest that the switch for the fan has failed, although it could also indicate other wiring problems.