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.

It depends how it's wired. If there are 4 wires going up to the unit then
the fan is completely independent of the light and you can dim the light
without the fan ever knowing it. If there are 3 wires then if you put on a
dimmer the fan motor will buzz like crazy. I would swap in a new dimmer
(the low watt ones are cheap, coupla bucks) and see if your fan buzzes. If
it does, then pull out the dimmer and replace it with a wall switch while
you consider what to do.

I had a 3-wire fan/light fixture which was undimmable. I replaced the fixture
with one which is designed to work with 3 wires and be dimmable. (The dimmer
control works like a TV remote and the dimmer itself is built into the unit.)

Grant

CME wrote:

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.

CME wrote:

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.

Light dimmers do not handle inductive (motor) loads well. Short of
rewiring, there are wireless control units available. One unit replaces
the wall switch, and the other is wired ahead of the fan and lights.
One "advantage" to these is that a handheld remote can also be used
to control the light and fan.

DON'T DO IT.

Use capacitors to slow down a motor....that's what is in most fans.....low,
med, high



"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.

In article , Eric Pederson wrote:
CME wrote:

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.

if you never run the fan, just remove the drop string, done.

Light dimmers do not handle inductive (motor) loads well. Short of
rewiring, there are wireless control units available. One unit replaces
the wall switch, and the other is wired ahead of the fan and lights.
One "advantage" to these is that a handheld remote can also be used
to control the light and fan.

one method i use and DON'T recomend is to wire the light to the hot in
the ceiling box and control it with the fan. then swap out the wall
sw for a fan control sw. you need to know what you are doing and
it may not meet code but allows seperate controls on a single existing
lighting circuit. this method assumes the house was properly wired
and the existing wall sw is on the neutral line. --Loren

In article ,
EBG wrote:
DON'T DO IT.

Use capacitors to slow down a motor....that's what is in most fans.....low,
med, high

Perhaps in higher-speed fans, like the window-mounted units, or
it might be selecting three different windings with the same capacitor,
each (except perhaps for the fastest) underpowered, so the speed is
limited by the slip rate.

Not in two of the (older) ceiling fans in this house. They are
Hunter ones designed with an inverted rotor with three sets of windings,
each with a different number of poles to select the speeds. Both of
these use pull-chains to select the speeds.

One of them also has a light fixture mounted coaxially with the
fan spindle, and that is controlled by a separate wall switch. The hot
wire for the light just passes through the center of the fan hub,
without connecting to anything on the fan itself. (It also had a
pull-chain for the light, which has been removed, since the wall switch
is more convenient.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

"CME" wrote in
:

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.



Some fans are designed to work with a speed contol, but i have never seen
one with an additional fan speed pull cord, so your fan is most likely
not speed control compatible. Replace the Dimmer with a SPST switch.
The dimmer will not take the motor loads.



--
Anthony

You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make
better idiots.

Remove sp to reply via email

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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