Welcome to The Maintenance Ear. A place to gather news and insight related to maintenance. This page is dedicated to the discussion of all things ceiling fans. Through the best videos, blogs, questions, comments, suggestions, and favorites on the subject. May it serve you well as it develops.
Ceiling fans come in countless shapes and sizes yet they have many things in common. The most basic common parts of ceiling fans are the down rod, the motor, the light kit, the fan blades, the wiring, the pull switches, the directional switch, and the fan pulls.
Artwork From the Kung Fu Maintenance book Chapter 13
The wiring for a ceiling fan is usually black for the “hot” to the fan motor, (optional) blue for the wiring to an optional fan light kit, white for the neutral and green for the ground. Your country, area, or set up may have quite different arrangements so as in all writings always verify by reading the instructions for your ceiling fan and proper testing or proving.
Ceiling fans should only be hung from specially designed junction boxes. These are most often braced to the ceiling studs with a strong support arm. The wiring to the junction box in the USA is usually black for the “hot” either constant “hot” or hooked up to a swich, red or blue for the “hot” from a light switch for the ceiling fan light kit, white for the “neutral”, and green or bare copper wire for the ground.
If your wiring does not have a red or blue wire for hook up to a light switch than you can hook up the black and blue wire from the ceiling fan to the black “hot” wire at the junction box. For this set up a light kit will be controlled by the fan light pull switch alone or in combo with the fan if hooked up to one wall switch.
There are a number of questions that this page answers through the videos and writing. I hope this page has answered your questions. If it has not or you want more detail or clarity on a particular question or point please ask them or re post the question in the comment section below and I will try to answer them on this page. Please come back as I update it. I will continue to add to the list of questions that this blog answers or has answered below and update it as more are added.
If there is a question posted you feel you can add detail to please do so in the comment box below.
Readers Beware! always validate thru proof any directions you receive here or elsewhere on line. Your safety is up to you. Also don’t just click on any of the links in the comments below. Only click on links that you know you can trust.
How do I hook up the wiring for my ceiling fan?
My ceiling fan has black, blue, white and green wires but my ceiling wiring only has black, white, and green wiring how do I wire it?
My ceiling fan has a black, blue, white, and a green wire but my ceiling has black, red, white, and green. How do I hook up the wires?
I don’t have a green wire in the ceiling only black white and a bare copper wire. Is that safe, How do I hook it up?
How do I balance a wobbling ceiling fan?
My fan lights turn on but the fan won’t turn on. How do I fix it? What do I check for?
My ceiling fan clicks and shakes, how do I stop it?
How can I balance a ceiling fan without a ceiling fan balancing kit?
I can’t figure out which fan blade will give me less wobble, any ideas on which blade to start with?
How can I balance a ceiling fan if I have an angled vaulted ceiling?
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