I went to replace an old mechanical timer for a bathroom extraction fan with a more up to date timer. The new single pole timer has a ground of course (no more mention of that), a black hot, a white neutral and a red load. All good, but when I took out the old timer, the wiring in the box simply had a black and a white wire terminating at the old timer.
Can I connect neutral, white from timer to white house wire and then both black hot and red load from the timer to black house wire?
Best Answer
No. The white wire to the old timer is actually the load, not neutral (and technically should have some black tape over the white insulation to mark it as such).
Unfortunately, your switch box does not have a neutral wire (they were not required in switch boxes until relatively recently, 10-15 years ago).
You need to return the new timer and find one that does not require a neutral connection.