Bathroom exhaust fan/light switch wiring

[bevo9604]

I am trying to assist a friend with replacing two wall switches that control one single fixture that contains an exhaust fan and light in her bathroom. She replaced the switches herself, as well as a few other switches and outlets in her house (one of which I later found to be wired incorrectly). I am not an electrician, but I can usually replace basic switches and outlets without a problem (when I am involved from the beginning).

What she has is one wire coming into the box (1 red, 1 white, 1 black), and a second wire (1 white, 1 black) and of course a ground wire. She "swears" she replaced the switch exactly as she had written down. I understand she could have purchased a different switch, and made the mistake there, but what puzzles me is that NONE of the wires seem to be "hot".

Is it possible that when she rewired another switch or outlet in the house, something was done incorrectly and caused the exhaust fan/light switch to lose power? (Such as a GFCI outlet in the bathroom). I suspect this, but wanted to ask an expert before proceeding. Any ideas on what type of switch was here before (she can not find the originals)?

By the way, what is the red wire?

I hope I explained this well, and hope someone can help.

Thank you.

[pcboss]

If I were to guess, the 2 wire cable was the power in, and the 3 wire was the switched power to the fan/light. The whites from both cables would be connected together.

The red wire in a 3 wire cable is commonly used to allow a second item to be switched without running 2 2-conductor cables.

Yes it is possible that something was miswired that is effecting the power into the switch.