If he has only 1 wall switch he has only 1 circuit powering the fan.
Even if the fan has 2 circuits the previous owner may have wired them
together. Sounds like a mess with a dimmer attached.


"David Babcock" wrote in message
news:FEGEb.87828$8y1.292096@attbi_s52...

"Art Begun" wrote in message
k.net...
There are special multispeed switches for fan motors. Check the
fan
department at HD and you will find them there. Light dimmers are
not
suitable for fan motors.

If the previous owner did this I would be concerned that the whole
job
is a mess and that the fan is not adequately attached to the
structure
of the house. In other words if he put a fan in a box made only
for a
ceiling fixture it will probably fall down some day and make you
very
unhappy. Since you are a novice you might want to have an
electrician
check it out.



"CME" wrote in message
...
I dont know if this the place to post but I have a question.

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.

I never run the fan but did use the dimmer to control light
brigthness.

Any help appreciated.




You've got to separate the circuits, on off for the fan, and the
dimmer for
the lights. It's very possible to do, but complicated to explain.

Dave