Wiring a whole house fan - electricians, is this ok, or is it gonna blow up?

[Carrman]

I installed a whole house fan. The mechanical part of the installation was pretty easy. Just wondering about the electrical.

I ended up mounting the fan control switch right next to a light switch. Can I just pull electricity from the light switch? I know nothing about home electrics, but it seem like people plug in 18 different things into one socket (like at christmas) without blowing up, so . . .

Here's a pic of the fan wiring diagram:



And here's the wires:






(I know, I don't have that little plastic box thingy in the wall for the new switch, I'll get one tomorrow).

The red and the black wires on the switch, with the orange caps, those run down from the fan motor. The third wire on the switch goes over and piggybacks onto the light switch.

The white wire from the motor runs down and piggybacks onto the 2 white wires which were existing in the light switch box (you can see there are three white wires now).

Will this work ok? Really bad? Kind of bad? Lucky to still be alive?

[Gogar]

I'm no electrician, but I'm up right now!

It looks ok to me, you need to make sure you ran the black wire from the (fan) switch to the correct place on the (light) switch, otherwise the fan will only work when the light switch is on.

For safety? Try to find the amperage draw of the fan and make sure it's not stressing out the circuit you're using. (15a? 10? 25?) etc.

I sure do hope some pros will check in for ya.

[rattlsnak]

Why doesnt the light switch have a ground? Is the device gorunded in the white wire bundle? Cant see it in the picture. Anyway, it looks like you have put the black jumper wire on the red 'switched' side of the light switch, as stated above, the fan would work only when the light switch was ON.

[Carrman]

I think the light is grounded through the white wire bundle. It is a setup where 2 different switches control the same light, maybe that has something to do with it?

You have a good eye, the black jumper wire is on the "switched" side of the light switch. It is just temporarily pushed in there. I assume I just move it to the other side of the switch?

[look 171]

If its a hot wire in the 2 way switch you have connected it to, then it should be fine. Lighting circuts should be on its own without any thing hook up to it. You will burn the house down or anything. Do check the amp. draw. How many lights are hooked up to that circut?

As far as the ground is concern, that's Romex wire that's comming out of there. There usually should be bare or ground wire somewhere there. Your fan is grounded to an existing box up top where you connected your netrual (white wire) isn't it? the white is not the ground wire.

[john70t]

Check how many outlets are on that string, what's going to be used by them, the gauge wire, as well as the breaker.
I.e. a microwave, a hair dryer, a space heater, and the fan on 14 gauge/20amp breaker is bad. You never know...

[oldE]

What are the hp and amperage draw on that motor?

If it is powerful enough to vent your whole house, I suspect you are asking for trouble. The run amps might be OK, but you will probably be overloading the circuit with the start load.

Also, there is no way I would put that kind of load on one of those 'push the wire into the hole' type of connectors.

Les

[Rot 911]

I wouldn't do it. You have no idea how many amps is in the light circuit now. You obviously have access to the attic so why not just pull another line and add a circuit to your power panel?

[Carrman]

Originally Posted by Kurt V

just pull another line and add a circuit to your power panel?

How is that typically done? Should there be some kind of a box or panel in the attic? My circuit breaker/power panel is all the way in the back of the house, on an outside wall in the garage. Quite a ways from where the fan is.

[Carrman]

It looks like the motor is 4.4 amps.

[jester911]

As was said earlier. Check to see what all is on the light circuit now. If the fan is only drawing 4 amps you probably will be fine.

[Rot 911]

Originally Posted by Carrman

It looks like the motor is 4.4 amps.

While that is a low draw, you need to see how many other devices are on the same circuit you want to hook into. In any event, I would not wire off of the light switch. Does your house wiring run up into the attic? If so find the junction box that the light wiring goes to and run a line out of there if the box can accept another line.

[Carrman]

There is an electrical switch nearby, can I just wire to that?



Also, if so, does the black power line to the fan go to the black, and the white line from the fan (the one marked "White (Common")(N)" on the diagram) go to the white?

What is the White (Common) line? As you can see in this picture of the light switch, it goes into the light switch box, but isn't actually connected to the light switch. The three lines here, two are the existing, the cleaner third one is the white line from the fan motor. Can I just leave this white wire from the fan connected as is, and run the black power supply line from the fan to the electrical switch in the picture above?




(P.S. Thanks to everyone for the help!)

[RoninLB]

personally I'd run a new feed wire directly to the box.

4.4 amp motor has start up draw exceeding that.

then the issue of more draw as the motor gets old and mechanicals get worn.



ps: each connector of the main line between breaker box and your feed has voltage drop

[dad911]

Did you run romex and were you planning on using a box for the fan control?

It may be easier to find a circuit in the attic, bring power to the fan, and drop 14/3 to the fan control. All connections need to be in junction boxes.

[MikeSid]

In most jurisdictions anything with a motor requires it's own circuit.

Run a new circuit.

[Carrman]

I've looked around, I don't see any junction box or anything in the attic. To run complete wiring from the main panel would be very difficult, for a 4 amp motor.

I'm going to run it off the electrical outlet.

So, specific question:

Using this diagram -



Do I just plug in/attach black to black and white to white here? (Or is the white wire coming out of the fan some kind of ground or something different?)

[john70t]

Probably not good to run a computer, or any delicate electronics, on the same circuit as a motor.

[dad911]

If that is a switch and not an outlet, NO YOU CANNOT JUST CONNECT TO IT!. The fixture is being fed, and the two wires are just switching 1 leg. Could be hot, could be neutral.

Frankly, I suggest calling an electrician.

You cannot assume black is always hot, white is always neutral.

[Carrman]

Yeah, the picture above, with the single black and single white wire, is a regular outlet (not a switch).

It is an outlet that is almost never used.

Isn't wiring black to black and white to white on that outlet the equivalent of just plugging the fan into the outlet?