Need help on wiring my new bathroom fan. Should have been more attentive when removing the old one. The new fan has three wires: white, black and green. In the ceiling are two sets of wires. The first, coming from the basement (I think) has three wires: Black, white and copper. The second (coming from the switch, I think) has two wires: white and black. Feel like an idiot for asking but how should I connect these wires? Thanks for any help you can give. Sophia
Electrical – Wiring Bathroom Fan
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No way from here to know which wire fed the light or fan, but you have a continuous hot feed into the box that fed the receptacle, light and fan. The third wire, maybe it fed the fan or maybe something something else farther down the line, if the latter that needs to be tied in 100 percent to the hot feed. All whites still tied together, blacks to the dimmer from the light and hot. All grounds tied together set with a screw to the metal box. Securing the ground to the box is not needed if the box is plastic.
Before I got too wordy, here is a sketch
Still have to learn to format better
The sketch is a little rough, it should get the idea across I hope
Without actually being there, and not being able to see the wiring at each of the devices, it's difficult to be sure what's going on. But here's my best guess, based on past experience.
To make it easier, I've numbered the ungrounded (hot) conductors in the photo from left to right.
- You've already established goes to a light.
- Supplies power to the switches.
- Likely goes to the fan.
- Also goes to the fan, but since the fan doesn't have a light built in, it's likely capped off at the fan.
- Probably feeds some other device, maybe a receptacle.
Why 3 and 5 are controlled by the same switch, I have no idea. Again, I can't see the room, so I have no idea what equipment you have.
If 1 and 4 are both for lights, it makes sense that a singe switch controls them.
One other thing to check, is to make sure the terminals of those switches are rated to accept more than one conductor. There should be a label on the switch that tells you what type, and how many conductors can connect.
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Best Answer
With the power off, connect the white wire from the "basement" to the white wire from the fan. Connect the black wire from the "basement" to the black wire from the fan. Turn on the power, if the fan runs then you've established the feed. Turn the power off and disconnect the black wires. Connect the basement black wire to the white wire going to the switch, wrap some black electrical tape around the white wire to show it is hot. Connect the black wire from the switch to the black wire from the fan. Connect the green wire from the fan to the copper wires from the other wires. Turn the power on and test the fan.
If in the first step the fan didn't turn on, turn off the power and disconnect the fan from the "basement" wires and hook them up to the "switch" wires. Turn on the power and the fan should run. Now you know that's the feed... continue the wiring as noted above.Good luck.