How To Change A Ceiling Fan Light Switch

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If your ceiling fan pull concatenation is cleaved because information technology was pulled out of the switch, there'southward an easy style to fix information technology. Open upwardly the switch in the ceiling fan and remove the broken piece of chain before replacing it with a longer 1. If your switch is completely cleaved, purchase a replacement at a local hardware shop before removing the old one and installing the new switch. Make sure you lot turn the power source off before taking apart the ceiling fan to be safe.

1
Plough the power off at the circuit breaker for safety. Locate your circuit breaker, probable either in the basement, a closet, or even outside the firm. Open the circuit billow and plough the power off for the room where yous'll be working with the ceiling fan to make sure electricity isn't yet flowing when yous're removing the fan'due south parts.^[i]
- If you're non sure which switch is for the room with the ceiling fan, turn off the main ability but to be safety.
two

Remove the lite bulbs to prevent them from breaking. Set a ladder or step stool if necessary to reach the ceiling fan easily. Unscrew the light bulbs carefully and identify them on a towel nearby. If the ceiling fan has any sconces or globes, remove these equally well past unscrewing them or using a screwdriver to remove whatsoever screws.^[2]

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3
Use a screwdriver to remove the screws holding the low-cal fixture in identify. The ceiling fan's fixture, or the primary housing where the wiring is stored, will exist held together with a few visible screws. Use a screwdriver to take out these screws, loosening the fixture to see the wiring and switch.^[3]
- Set up the screws and detachable fixture piece aside in a safe place to reattach them afterward.
4

Unscrew the nut on the side of the fixture that holds the switch. Look on the outside of the fixture for a minor nut. Unscrew this nut to remove information technology completely, letting you access the ceiling fan pull chain switch. Set the nut aside for safekeeping.^[4]
5
Pull out the switch to inspect the chain more closely. Now that the switch is loosened from the fixture, look at it up close. If the wiring of the switch is broken, replace it completely. Leverage the switch open using a screwdriver to see if the chain just needs to be replaced with a longer piece, or if it would exist best to get a new switch all together.^[five]
- If the chain looks replaceable, use a longer length of chain you already have to fix it instead of purchasing another ane.
- If the switch looks broken, visit a local hardware store to purchase a replacement.
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i
Pop open the switch using a small screwdriver. Leverage open the tabs along the switch using a screwdriver. Once you separate it into its 2 pieces, the things inside of it, like the concatenation and spring, will be visible. With the switch open, remove information technology from the wiring by pulling the wires out from the switch.^[6]
- Be careful non to lose whatsoever of the pieces when you pop the switch open.
- If you don't see the spring and concatenation, pop off the protective plate property them inside the switch.
ii

Remove the broken slice of chain from the machinery. Remove the contents of the switch, including the broken piece of concatenation connected to a disc and the spring. All of the contents inside the switch will be loose, making it easy to merely take them out. Pop the cleaved concatenation off of the disc using a screwdriver. Discard the broken chain subsequently you've removed it.^[7]
iii

Put a longer slice of chain in the quondam chain's spot. Just equally y'all removed the brusque broken chain, pop a longer chain that will attain through the fixture into place in the onetime chain's spot. Snap the longer chain into the disc where the broken concatenation was using your fingers.^[eight]
4
Reassemble the switch by putting the chain and spring back into place. Put the spring and concatenation attached to the disc back into the switch. Pull the chain through the pigsty in the switch then you can pull on it hands. If you popped off a protective plate that holds everything together, press this back into place too.^[9]
- Hold downwardly the leap and chain mechanism using your finger or a screwdriver and so it doesn't pop upwardly while you're attaching the two master switch pieces together.
- The 2 switch halves will press back into each other hands.
five

Place the switch back inside the fixture and reattach the switch nut. Put the switch back in the wires only as yous took it out. Make certain you place the switch adjacent to the spot where you unscrewed the nut from the outside of the fixture. Screw the nut back into place to hold the switch.^[x]

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1
Purchase a replacement switch at your local domicile improvement store. Either have a picture of your old switch and so you know which i to buy, or disassemble the former switch and take information technology with y'all. Look for a "fan low-cal switch" or something labeled similarly.^[11]
- Ask an employee at the home improvement or hardware store for help if you're not sure which switch to purchase.
2
Disconnect the wires attached to the quondam switch. Pulling or twisting off the connectors that agree together the wires volition disconnect them from the one-time switch. Remove each wire that's fastened to the old switch by pulling off the connectors, and take the one-time switch out.^[12]
- Take a picture of which wires are connected to the switch before disassembling it to reference the pic when putting it back together.
3

Strip 0.five–0.75 in (one.3–one.nine cm) of insulation off of the wires to attach them. Employ a wire stripper to strip the insulation off of the ends of the wires fastened to the new switch, cutting into the insulation with the stripper before pulling it towards the end of the wire to remove information technology. This will allow the electric connection to laissez passer through the wires.^[13]
4
Twist the wires together and cover them with connectors. Locate the old wires that your new wires volition adhere to and twist them together tightly using a clockwise movement. Many wires are color-coded, making it easy to friction match the correct wires together. Cover the bare wire with a twist-on connector, making sure the unabridged bare wire is covered.^[xiv]
- Refer to the film yous took of the wires the old switch connected to, if needed.
- Twist-on connectors are also chosen wire nuts and tin can be found at your local hardware store.
5

Put the new switch into the fan housing to reattach the nut on the outside. Since you removed the small nut on the exterior of the fixture that holds the switch in place earlier, it's fourth dimension to reattach it. Hold the switch inside the fixture, and screw the nut back on to the outside of the fixture to hold the switch in place.^[15]

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1
Hold the fixture over the wiring and screw it back into place. With your switch replaced, place the part of the fixture that you removed back into place on top of the wiring. Concord information technology steady and use the screws to screw it back in using a screwdriver.^[xvi]
- Ask someone to concord the fixture in place while you spiral the screws back in, if desired.
ii

Put the lightbulbs back into the fixture if needed. If yous removed any globes or sconces that went around the bulbs, reattach these first either by twisting them back on or using a screwdriver to reinstall the screws. Option up the lightbulbs and carefully twist each ane dorsum into place in the fixture.^[17]
3

Turn the power back on through the breaker. Render to the circuit breaker and flip the switch that turns back on the power. If your circuit billow isn't labeled, make certain you turned the right power back on by testing the light switch in the ceiling fan room.^[18]
4
Exam the pull chain to see if it works. Flip the power switch in the room if necessary to turn the fan on. At present that your ceiling fan pull chain switch is fully installed, pull on it gently to encounter if it works. If the lights come on or the fan starts to rotate, it'due south all fixed.^[xix]
- Avoid pulling on the chain using a lot of force because this is often how it breaks.
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Add New Question

Question

If the concatenation just came off in my mitt practise I take to buy a new switch or can I just put the concatenation back on?

This happened to me iii days agone. I had to buy a new iii-speed ceiling fan switch as the chain that broke will NOT become back in the switch. You'll need a big paper clip to get the wires in the terminal as per the directions that came with the ane I bought from Lowe's.
Question

How do I know if the fan switch is working?

You volition need a ability tester with a calorie-free. Check each terminal for ability with the switch on and off -- if it lights up when you plow the switch on, information technology is a good switch.
Question

We want to connect a 3-speed wall switch to supplant the chain-pull switch on our ceiling fan. At some betoken there was a switch for a light, which was removed. There are 4 black wires inside the wall with wire nuts on them. The new 3-speed switch has 2 black wires. How can nosotros tell what nosotros are supposed to connect?

2 of the wires were for the light and 2 for the fan. You will need a voltage tester light to encounter which ones are power, unless two or 3 of the blackness wires are wired together, and then those would exist the ability and the other black wires would be for the fan or lite.
Question

My pull chain is threaded through the threaded stock that holds the light encompass on, where is the switch? How practise I go to it?

Get-go, plough off the breaker or fuse for this electric area. Remove the light cover. Await for screws that hold the light plate in. Keep 1 manus below the plate and hold onto information technology every bit you unscrew the screws. Hand the screws to someone, or drop into a pants' pocket. The unit yous are looking for will be inside the housing.

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Things You lot'll Demand

Ladder
Screwdriver

New chain

Wire stripper
Replacement switch
Twist-on connectors

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Disconnect the electricity by turning off the power before treatment the ceiling fan.

About This Article

Article Summary X

To supplant a ceiling fan pull switch, you'll need to remove the old switch, detach the wires, and attach a new switch directly to the terminals. To beginning, turn off the circuit breaker that leads to your fan, so you don't chance electrocuting yourself. And so, remove the cover on the fan and unscrew the nut on the outside of the pull switch, and so y'all tin pull it out. Make sure yous write down the colors of each wire and which terminals they connect to, since you'll demand this information later on. In one case you've removed the pull switch, take it to a home comeback store, and buy a new ane. The new switch should be identical in size, number of speeds, and wattage, or else it won't be compatible. When you attach the new switch, refer to your notes so you can connect the colored wires to the appropriate terminals. Once they're fastened, spiral the nuts back in, replace the fan comprehend, and flip the excursion breaker back on. To learn how to attach a new switch using wire nuts, read on!

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