I started to change out my ceiling fan and noticed the support brace is actually laying on the drywall and not firmly attached to a beam. I also noticed the new fan has a blue wire where the wiring in the ceiling box doesn't have a red wire. The wiring coming out of the ceiling is also really too short to connect to the new fan easily.
I understand I need to get in the attic (lucky the support brace is in the attic) and fix that box properly so no weight is on the drywall. Since I will be up there I am want to also run a new electrical line and replace the single wall switch making use of the multi switch / light fan.
What type of wire should I run from the wall switch to the celling box to support the new fan's blue wire?
What type of wall switch should I install to control the fan and light independently?
Best Answer
The type of wire you use depends on what kind of circuit you are attaching to. Go to your electrical box, find the circuit for the current light switch, and read what it is rated for (probably 15 or 20 amps). If it is 15 then you use 14-3 wire. If it is 20 then you need 12-3 wire. The "3" will give you an extra red wire and that will be used to separate your fan and light controls. If you feel that you will have additional electrical work down the road I suggest buying in the 250 feet spools. Wire goes quickly and the smaller samples are pretty costly. You might pay almost half for 25 feet what 250 would cost you.
For the switch you need to simply go to the big box and go in their fan section and they will have a few choices for fan/light combo switches. Just make sure there are two controls on the switch. I just installed the one below and it works well.