# Ceiling fan and wire gauge needs?



## greentrees (Apr 28, 2012)

I am installing a Hunter fan in one of my rooms and wanted to know if the wiring is adequate for the fan. I heard that the wire gauge is different for a ceiling fan installation, and not sure if the right gauge is already installed. The house was built in 1995, and I took a few photos to look at.
The existing wiring came with the house and is a basic ceiling light. It has a copper wire (ground), a black wire (hot), and a white wire (neutral). The room currently has a single switch, so the instructions say to attach the copper to the fan’s green wire, the white to the fan’s white wire, and the black to the fans black and blank/white wire.

This seems fairly straight forward and hopefully when I turn on the switch the light goes on. And there is a pull string, so hopefully that will control the fan. 

If you look at the existing ceiling box, it looks like it might be attached directly to a ceiling joist which would make the installation of a ceiling fan box much easier. 

So a few items:
Is the wire gauge appropriate for a ceiling fan?
Does the dangling copper wire need to be covered with something?
Connecting the fan’s black wire and the fan’s black/white wire to the black wire from the house will not turn on both the fan and light together all the time?


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## a7ecorsair (Jun 1, 2010)

Maybe the box is fan rated already?
The wiring is fine.
The bare copper ground just gets tucked away.
It looks like you only have one cable to the box so connect the black and black/white to the incoming black. The switch will have to be on for either the fan or light to work. These usually have a pull chain for both the fan and the light.


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## greentrees (Apr 28, 2012)

a7ecorsair said:


> Maybe the box is fan rated already?
> The wiring is fine.
> The bare copper ground just gets tucked away.
> It looks like you only have one cable to the box so connect the black and black/white to the incoming black. The switch will have to be on for either the fan or light to work. These usually have a pull chain for both the fan and the light.


The box is plastic so I thought that fan rated boxes are all metal, thus needing to replace it.

Yes, there is a pull chain for the light and one for the fan, so that means with the switch on, I can control whether the fan or the light is on....perfect.


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## k_buz (Mar 22, 2012)

In the last 5 years or so, fan rated plastic boxes have become more and more common, but I can't tell if that is one or not. My guess is its not fan rated, but I can't be sure from the pics.


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## greentrees (Apr 28, 2012)

k_buz said:


> In the last 5 years or so, fan rated plastic boxes have become more and more common, but I can't tell if that is one or not. My guess is its not fan rated, but I can't be sure from the pics.


The box is 16 years old, so its more likely not fan rated. I'll replace it since I prefer a metal box, which seems more secure. 

Is it possible to tell what wire gauge is in the photo. I would think the standard light in a bedroom is gauged so you can add a fan without having to run more wire. The master bedroom and the living room had fans when the house was purchased 16 years ago.


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## jbfan (Jul 1, 2004)

If codes were followed, then the wire gage is fine for the fan.


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## frenchelectrican (Apr 12, 2006)

If you can get it above the junction box like in attic then the metal ceiling fan box will work very well you can use the new work ceiling fan box with crossbrace or slap a 2X4 or 2X6 ( depending on how it set up ) and add a new ceiling fan rated box next to it.

So that is the two most common methold to do this.

For the conductor size., Hard to say but if this is on genral lighting circuit if you have 15 amp breaker then pretty sure you have 14 AWG there but hard to say with that photo so you may want to take a small sample peice to confirm the size.

Merci,
Marc


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