Got a small ceiling fan with light in our kitchen ... socket has gone kaput,
you can visibly see scorching inside, fan still works though ... it's a
small socket with pull cord, not one of those real tiny 2-watters, it takes
full-size bulbs, we use 60-watt bulbs in it ... we've checked at Lowe's and
they have a similar socket ... however, our socket has three wires running
to it; the socket at Lowe's has places for only two wires to connect ... guy
at Lowe's said "it's probably a ground wire, just connect the hot wires up
and see what happens" and I said, "Uh, no thank you" ... what do we need to
do here, can a socket with two connections work, if so how do we make it
work ... is one with three connections available or do we just need to get
an entire new unit? Thanks in advance for any help.

On Mar 4, 2:21*pm, "Greg Bailey" wrote:
Got a small ceiling fan with light in our kitchen ... socket has gone kaput,
you can visibly see scorching inside, fan still works though ... it's a
small socket with pull cord, not one of those real tiny 2-watters, it takes
full-size bulbs, we use 60-watt bulbs in it ... we've checked at Lowe's and
they have a similar socket ... however, our socket has three wires running
to it; the socket at Lowe's has places for only two wires to connect ... guy
at Lowe's said "it's probably a ground wire, just connect the hot wires up
and see what happens" and I said, "Uh, no thank you" ... what do we need to
do here, can a socket with two connections work, if so how do we make it
work ... is one with three connections available or do we just need to get
an entire new unit? Thanks in advance for any help.

Take the socket to a lighting store with parts counter - not a Home
Depot or Lowes - a parts counter that contractors use. Most decent
lighting stores will have one. They'll not only give you an extremely
close match if they have one, they'll explain the situation in a
little more detail than "hook it up and see what happens"

According to Greg Bailey :
Got a small ceiling fan with light in our kitchen ... socket has gone kaput,
you can visibly see scorching inside, fan still works though ... it's a
small socket with pull cord, not one of those real tiny 2-watters, it takes
full-size bulbs, we use 60-watt bulbs in it ... we've checked at Lowe's and
they have a similar socket ... however, our socket has three wires running
to it; the socket at Lowe's has places for only two wires to connect ... guy
at Lowe's said "it's probably a ground wire, just connect the hot wires up
and see what happens" and I said, "Uh, no thank you" ... what do we need to
do here, can a socket with two connections work, if so how do we make it
work ... is one with three connections available or do we just need to get
an entire new unit? Thanks in advance for any help.

A lightbulb is a two wire device. There is _no_ ground on a lightbulb
to connect to.

A two wire socket _will_ work just fine. The one thing you want
to try is ensure that the fixture hot wire connects to the center pin
of the socket, not the threaded shell.

If the new socket is all plastic or ceramic, a ground wire to the
_socket_ is pretty much pointless.

Many replacement sockets have metal mounting brackets. If it does,
just connect the ground wire to it - under the attachment screw.
--
Chris Lewis,

Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

On Mar 4, 1:21*pm, "Greg Bailey" wrote:
Got a small ceiling fan with light in our kitchen ... socket has gone kaput,
you can visibly see scorching inside, fan still works though ... it's a
small socket with pull cord, not one of those real tiny 2-watters, it takes
full-size bulbs, we use 60-watt bulbs in it ... we've checked at Lowe's and
they have a similar socket ... however, our socket has three wires running
to it; the socket at Lowe's has places for only two wires to connect ... guy
at Lowe's said "it's probably a ground wire, just connect the hot wires up
and see what happens" and I said, "Uh, no thank you" ... what do we need to
do here, can a socket with two connections work, if so how do we make it
work ... is one with three connections available or do we just need to get
an entire new unit? Thanks in advance for any help.

Use a 2 wire socket, its the ground wire you dont need. Gee wee need
all the help we can get to keep the Chinese from making unsafe junk,
but 3 wire socket is assinine.

On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 13:21:09 -0600, "Greg Bailey"
wrote:

Got a small ceiling fan with light in our kitchen ... socket has gone kaput,
you can visibly see scorching inside, fan still works though ... it's a
small socket with pull cord, not one of those real tiny 2-watters, it takes
full-size bulbs, we use 60-watt bulbs in it ... we've checked at Lowe's and
they have a similar socket ... however, our socket has three wires running
to it; the socket at Lowe's has places for only two wires to connect ... guy
at Lowe's said "it's probably a ground wire, just connect the hot wires up
and see what happens" and I said, "Uh, no thank you" ... what do we need to
do here, can a socket with two connections work, if so how do we make it
work ... is one with three connections available or do we just need to get
an entire new unit? Thanks in advance for any help.



Two wires will work just fine. First turn OFF the circuit and check
to make sure it is off and stays off until the wiring is completed.
Connect the black (hot) wire to the brass screw. This contacts the
small round contact on the end of the light bulb. Connect the white
(neutral) wire to the silver screw. Make sure there are no stray
strands sticking out and check for tight connections. If there are no
screws but wires from the socket use wire nuts to make your
connections. Fold the bare copper (ground) wire up and tuck it out of
the way.

A lightbulb is a two wire device. *There is _no_ ground on a lightbulb
to connect to.


Unless its a socket for a three-way bulb.

Check the bottom of your old socket, if there is a center contact and
then another contact ring (in addition to the shell, obviously), then
its a three-way. If so, then you can either get a replacement three-
way socket, or else just wire up a new two-wire socket using on the
fixture neutral (to the shell) and one of the fixture's switched hot
wires to the center contact.

Ken

According to Ken :
A lightbulb is a two wire device. *There is _no_ ground on a lightbulb
to connect to.

Unless its a socket for a three-way bulb.

It's not a ground, and you're rather unlikely to see a threeway
socket on a direct-connected ceiling fixture.

I've certainly not.

But yeah, threeways bulbs are three wire devices. But it won't be the case
at hand.
--
Chris Lewis,

Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

Greg Bailey wrote:
Got a small ceiling fan with light in our kitchen ... socket has gone
kaput, you can visibly see scorching inside, fan still works though
... it's a small socket with pull cord, not one of those real tiny
2-watters, it takes full-size bulbs, we use 60-watt bulbs in it ...
we've checked at Lowe's and they have a similar socket ... however,
our socket has three wires running to it; the socket at Lowe's has
places for only two wires to connect ... guy at Lowe's said "it's
probably a ground wire, just connect the hot wires up and see what
happens" and I said, "Uh, no thank you" ... what do we need to do
here, can a socket with two connections work, if so how do we make it
work ... is one with three connections available or do we just need
to get an entire new unit? Thanks in advance for any help.

It's probably just a ground wire, just connect the hot wires up and see what
happens.

On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 13:21:09 -0600, "Greg Bailey"
wrote:

Got a small ceiling fan with light in our kitchen ... socket has gone kaput,
you can visibly see scorching inside, fan still works though ... it's a
small socket with pull cord, not one of those real tiny 2-watters, it takes
full-size bulbs, we use 60-watt bulbs in it ... we've checked at Lowe's and
they have a similar socket ... however, our socket has three wires running
to it; the socket at Lowe's has places for only two wires to connect ... guy
at Lowe's said "it's probably a ground wire, just connect the hot wires up
and see what happens" and I said, "Uh, no thank you" ... what do we need to
do here, can a socket with two connections work, if so how do we make it
work ... is one with three connections available or do we just need to get
an entire new unit? Thanks in advance for any help.


It probably is a ground.

How about some more clues?

Colors?

Color to color is a safe bet, but not a sure thing.