Switches operate a fan and light off the same electric feed.
A bathroom fan and light often use separate switches that tap into the same electric source. Usually, an electrician runs a feeder wire from the circuit breaker to the bathroom's switch box. A pigtail wire connection in the switch box sends the power to both switches. A wire set then delivers electricity from the selected switch to the fan or light. This wiring application works with both a fan/light combination unit and when the fan and light mount in different parts of the bathroom.
Instructions
1. Strip 3/8 inch of the insulation from each wire in the switch box with wire strippers. The wire sets in the switch box will contain two or three insulated wires and an uninsulated wire. Wire sets with two insulated wires use white and black insulation. Wire sets with three insulated wires contain white, black and usually red insulated wires.
2. Remove 3/8 inch of the insulation from the wires at the fan and light with wire strippers. If the fan and light mount to different locations in the bathroom, each wire set will contain two insulated and one uninsulated wire. If the fan and light mount in the same unit, either a single wire set with wires and one uninsulated wire or two wire sets with two insulated and one uninsulated wire will enter the unit.
3. Twist all of the white-colored wires in the switch box together, then secure them with a wire nut. Push the white wires to the back of the switch box.
4. Cut four pieces of 14-gauge wire 6 inches long with wire cutters. Remove 3/8 inch of the insulation from each end of each wire, called jumper wires, with the wire strippers.
5. Wrap one end of a jumper wire around a switch's green ground screw. Tighten the ground screw with a slotted screwdriver. Repeat this with the second switch.
6. Twist the uninsulated wires in the switch box to the ends of the jumper wires connected to the switches' ground screws. Secure the ground wires with a wire nut, forming a pigtail wire connection. Push the ground wires to the back of the switch box.
7. Combine the black wire from the circuit breaker to one end of both remaining jumper wires. Hold the wires together with a wire nut, forming a pigtail wire connection.
8. Fold the end of one pigtail jumper wire around a gold-colored switch screw. Tighten the switch's screw with a flat head screwdriver. Repeat this with the second pigtail jumper wire and switch.
9. Bend the end of the black wire in the wire set feeding the fan around the silver-colored screw on the fan's switch. Tighten the switch screw.
10. Fold the end of the light's power wire over the second switch's silver-colored screw. If the wire set feeding a fan/light combination unit uses three insulated wires, then the light uses the red wire for power. Use the remaining black wire if the fan and light each use a two-strand plus ground wire set.
11. Twist the bath fan's power wire to the black wire from the fan switch. Cover the wires with a wire nut.
12. Connect the bath fan's common wire to the white wire from the fan switch and screw a wire nut over them. Fan/light combination units usually share the common wire.
13. Wrap the bath light's power wire around the power wire from the light switch and protect them with a wire nut. Use the remaining wire in a fan/light combination unit, the wire with red or black insulation. Use the when the light fixture mounts to a different spot in the bathroom from the fan.
14. Twist the light's common wire to the light switch's white wire. Cover the wires with a wire nut. Skip this step if the fan/light combination unit uses a wire set with three insulated wires coming from the switch box.
15. Attach the uninsulated wires to the fan's and light fixture's ground terminal. Fan/light combination units, fan-only units and light fixtures usually use a single green-colored screw, located in the appliance's electrical connection box, as a ground connection.
Tags: with wire, insulated wires, light combination, black wire, three insulated, three insulated wires