An old ceiling fan, which worked fine, had no lamp and four wires: green,
blue, black and white. The ceiling has a black, red and white wires, plus a
bare copper wire. (Using multi-meter, the only non-zero voltage measured
between any pair of these wires seemed to be ~110v between the red and white
wires, and only when the wall switch is "on.") The black wire from the old
fan was connected to the red wire from ceiling, and the white wire from the
old fan was connected to the white wire in ceiling. The black wire in ceiling
and bare wire in ceiling were not connected to anything, nor were the green
and blue wires from the old fan. (In the case of the green/bare wires, that
seems wrong). The old fan was operated by the wall switch. It also had a
chain for changing speeds. I'm replacing it with a new-from-the-box (although
probably close to 20 years old) Hunter "Silent Breeze" ceiling fan, along with
a Hunter lighting kit I bought separately. Inside the switch housing cover of
the new fan, I connected the black/white wire from the switch housing to the
black wire from the light fixture, and the white wire from the switch housing
to the white wire from the light fixture. (That is per the instructions that
came with the lighting kit.) At the top of the new fan are four wires: white,
black, black with white stripe, and green. There is also a green wire on the
ceiling plate of the new fan. The new fan instructions say to connect green
wires from fan and the ceiling plate to the bare wire from ceiling; the white
wire from fan to white wire from ceiling; the black wire from fan to black
wire from ceiling; and black/white wire from fan to the "control switch wire,"
which I assume to be the red wire from the ceiling. According to
instructions, the result is supposed to be: "control the light with a wall
switch and the fan with a pull chain (one wall switch required)." However,
the actual result is that the pull chain controls the lamp (only when the wall
switch is on), but the fan does not operate regardless of wall switch or pull
chain position. There is a second wall switch next to the one that controls
the red & white wires in the ceiling, but the second wall switch controls a
wall outlet and doesn't seem to be connected with any of the ceiling wires. I
have not yet removed the wall switch(es) to see how they are wired. My house
was built in the early 1960s in Fairfax County, Virginia. I have lived here
for almost 20 years, but have not made any changes to the home's wiring during
that time. Besides the fact that the pull chain controls the lamp rather than
the fan, and the fan doesn't work at all, I'm confused about the unused black
wire in the ceiling--should it always be "hot?" If so, why don't I measure
any voltage between it and the white wire in the ceiling (presumably neutral)?

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On Friday, July 3, 2020 at 12:44:06 AM UTC-4, Don Forrer wrote:
An old ceiling fan, which worked fine, had no lamp and four wires: green,
blue, black and white. The ceiling has a black, red and white wires, plus a
bare copper wire. (Using multi-meter, the only non-zero voltage measured
between any pair of these wires seemed to be ~110v between the red and white
wires, and only when the wall switch is "on.") The black wire from the old
fan was connected to the red wire from ceiling, and the white wire from the
old fan was connected to the white wire in ceiling. The black wire in ceiling
and bare wire in ceiling were not connected to anything, nor were the green
and blue wires from the old fan. (In the case of the green/bare wires, that
seems wrong). The old fan was operated by the wall switch. It also had a
chain for changing speeds. I'm replacing it with a new-from-the-box (although
probably close to 20 years old) Hunter "Silent Breeze" ceiling fan, along with
a Hunter lighting kit I bought separately. Inside the switch housing cover of
the new fan, I connected the black/white wire from the switch housing to the
black wire from the light fixture, and the white wire from the switch housing
to the white wire from the light fixture. (That is per the instructions that
came with the lighting kit.) At the top of the new fan are four wires: white,
black, black with white stripe, and green. There is also a green wire on the
ceiling plate of the new fan. The new fan instructions say to connect green
wires from fan and the ceiling plate to the bare wire from ceiling; the white
wire from fan to white wire from ceiling; the black wire from fan to black
wire from ceiling; and black/white wire from fan to the "control switch wire,"
which I assume to be the red wire from the ceiling. According to
instructions, the result is supposed to be: "control the light with a wall
switch and the fan with a pull chain (one wall switch required)." However,
the actual result is that the pull chain controls the lamp (only when the wall
switch is on), but the fan does not operate regardless of wall switch or pull
chain position. There is a second wall switch next to the one that controls
the red & white wires in the ceiling, but the second wall switch controls a
wall outlet and doesn't seem to be connected with any of the ceiling wires. I
have not yet removed the wall switch(es) to see how they are wired. My house
was built in the early 1960s in Fairfax County, Virginia. I have lived here
for almost 20 years, but have not made any changes to the home's wiring during
that time. Besides the fact that the pull chain controls the lamp rather than
the fan, and the fan doesn't work at all, I'm confused about the unused black
wire in the ceiling--should it always be "hot?" If so, why don't I measure
any voltage between it and the white wire in the ceiling (presumably neutral)?


Probably because the black wire isn't connected to anything at the other end?
Is it in the same cable as the red and white wire? That is typically the
case. Find that cable at the switch and see if the black is connected to
anything. You want it connected to hot, which would be feeding the
switch. That gives you hot to power the
fan when the fan switch is pulled, red to work the light, white neutral for
both and green for ground.

I can't see what's going on with the wiring inside the fan/light, but it
sounds like you have the pull switch wired in series with the light and
the red 'control wire'. The pull switch should be in series with the fan
and the black incoming wire, which currently isn't hot for whatever reason.
The light should be direct to the red incoming "control wire".