On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 10:14:16 -0500, "CME" wrote:

I dont know if this the place to post but I have a question.

Off topic? Never stops anyone else... coughGunnercough ;-)

I have a ceiling fan with lights built into as one unit in the home dining
room, the fan/lights, each have there own pull string controls, for the
light on/off. the fan has a forward/reverse pull string control and
variable speed pull string 3 speeds I think on a pull string. There is also
one wall mounted switch controlled by a dimmer.

My question is it safe to use a dimmer switch or is it better to use a
typical on /off switch? Something tells me that I should be using a on/off
switch verses a dimmer as this would fry the fan if it was not on full
power, or cause house fire at the switch box.
Being a novice can someone tell me the SAFE way to solve this problem. As
the dimmer thats there is now burnt, I bought the house with a dimmer there.

If you turn the dimmer off, does the fan still work? If it does
not, it is wired through the dimmer also, and normal dimmers will not
function long with a motor load connected. Remove the dimmer and put
in a regular toggle switch, or sooner or later someone will ttry
dimming the fan and blow the transistor in the dimmer.

To use a wall control like that, you need to satisfy these
requirements:

1 - The wiring between the fan and the wall switch location needs to
be 3-wire (Light Hot, Fan Hot, Neutral, plus Ground) - either Romex or
conduit will do. And if you're rewiring, a 20A circuit must stay 12
GA all the way to the ceiling box, no fair dropping to 14 GA.

2 - The fan section and the light section leads coming up the fan stem
need to be wired to the two seperate leads at the ceiling box.

3.- The fan needs to be compatible with a speed control - most are,
but read the instructions to be sure, some brands (like Hunter)
require you to use their own brand of speed controls. When you hook
up the control, set the fan's switch to the highest speed and remove
the string (or chain extension) from the fan speed pull-switch so
people don't change it accidentally.

4 - You need a compatible dimmer/fan speed control on the wall like
the generic (number off the top of my head) Lutron S2-LF.

5 - You need to watch the light kit, most of those split controls only
have a 300W light dimmer section. Some people like to put big lamps
in their fan (or hook some can lights and track lights to the same
control), and the dimmer section of the fan control won't live long.

(Oh, and the ceiling box needs to be one of the heavy-duty ones that
is UL rated for use with ceiling fans, so you don't end up with a fan
on your head.)

-- Bruce --
--
Bruce Bergman, Woodland Hills CA USA.
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