# What is causing a low voltage in my ceiling fan/light?



## rookies5 (Jan 25, 2012)

My house was recently remodeled. The original ceiling fan was moved 18 inches. After the work was completed everything worked fine; however, after a month, the fan blew a bulb with a loud POP. The fan worked but the socket was shot. I replaced the fan with the same exact one. i month later same results. I tested the voltage and discovered that there was a low voltage reading when the switch was off. Called the builder who brought his electrician. He confirmed the low voltage but could not determine why. He replace the breaker with a low voltage breaker? and moved another fan back into the same outlet. 1 month later, POP with sparks! The fan is on a 3way or 2 switch outlet. Friends that I spoke to said a low voltage is not normal and it could be crossed wires or a broken wire. I called the builder again but I lost confidence When this is resolved I will bill him for 3 fans but where should I begin? He did bring his electrician but I'm still shocked that he did not fix or find the low voltage problem


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## jbfan (Jul 1, 2004)

What is a low voltage breaker?

What was the voltage reading you had?

It is not unusual to read some voltage with thw switch off on a 3 way system.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

Loose neutral at the circuit breaker box?


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## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

sdsester said:


> Loose neutral at the circuit breaker box?


Depending on what the OP means by the switch being off, ditto.

Sometimes the fan voltage is high to pop the bulb and sometimes it's low depending on what other loads in the house are switched on.

The total has to add to 240v so if one side has 100v the other has to have 140v and in this example the voltage across the bad neutral connection would be 20v instead of a few mV.


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## rookies5 (Jan 25, 2012)

I'm not an electrician but the new breaker is suppose to break quickly when it senses a short. It never popped the breaker before although the results to the light was the same. This time the bulb blew and the breaker broke. 
I'll have to test the voltage when I take the fan down again. I believe it had 120 with the switch on but I have to check it again. It may have been around 25V with the switch off.


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## rookies5 (Jan 25, 2012)

Yoyizit said:


> Depending on what the OP means by the switch being off, ditto.
> 
> Sometimes the fan voltage is high to pop the bulb and sometimes it's low depending on what other loads in the house are switched on.
> 
> The total has to add to 240v so if one side has 100v the other has to have 140v and in this example the voltage across the bad neutral connection would be 20v instead of a few mV.


Breaker was set and the fan switch was off when I got the low voltage reading.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

If the neutral is loose, the setting of the breaker would make no difference. The cover of the breaker box has to come off, the neutral wire seated, and the screw tightened---if that is the problem. 

I would call your own electrician at this point. If it is just a loose neutral he will be there for all of 15 minutes. If it is not, you are getting nowhere with the builder's guy. I find it hilarious the sparky just threw up his hands and walked away when he could not source the problem. Very comforting!


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## Scottphys (Jun 3, 2011)

Just curious- have you confirmed a good ground ?


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## rookies5 (Jan 25, 2012)

sdsester said:


> If the neutral is loose, the setting of the breaker would make no difference. The cover of the breaker box has to come off, the neutral wire seated, and the screw tightened---if that is the problem.
> 
> I would call your own electrician at this point. If it is just a loose neutral he will be there for all of 15 minutes. If it is not, you are getting nowhere with the builder's guy. I find it hilarious the sparky just threw up his hands and walked away when he could not source the problem. Very comforting!


I'm out 3 fans thanks to sparky! I still believe the problem lies in the movement of the box for the ceiling fan. I did not have this problem until it was moved. Since they replaced the breaker should I still suspect the neutral wire? Thanks everyone for your excellent feedback and ideas!


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## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

The low voltage almost has to be a Phantom Voltage but you can confirm this by converting your meter to a Lo-Z meter. Taking proper precautions, wire an incand. bulb across the leads when you measure voltage and watch the 25v go to zero.

These fans failing so quickly is pretty puzzling. I will say though, at a failure rate of 1/month, after you put a fix in place you'll need 3 consecutive trouble-free months to be 95% certain it's fixed. Two good months will give you 86% certainly.


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## rookies5 (Jan 25, 2012)

Yoyizit said:


> The low voltage almost has to be a Phantom Voltage but you can confirm this by converting your meter to a Lo-Z meter. Taking proper precautions, wire an incand. bulb across the leads when you measure voltage and watch the 25v go to zero.
> 
> These fans failing so quickly is pretty puzzling. I will say though, at a failure rate of 1/month, after you put a fix in place you'll need 3 consecutive trouble-free months to be 95% certain it's fixed. Two good months will give you 86% certainly.


JUst so its clear, the fans continue to work and have never failed. The light bulbs have blown leaving a burnt residue on the glass covered bowl. After one bulb goes out the other worked for a short time but I would here a spark and low pop sound while the last light was on.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

There is only so much we can offer from afar without being able to take a tester to things. Time to call your own electrician to resolve this.


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## rookies5 (Jan 25, 2012)

sdsester said:


> There is only so much we can offer from afar without being able to take a tester to things. Time to call your own electrician to resolve this.


Builder is out of town. I turned the breaker off. I will give him one more shot and use some of the suggestions mentioned here. Excellent feedback! Thank you and I will let you know the outcome


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