Another ceiling fan install for the confused

[Neil999]

Hi. I have yet another ceiling fan wiring install question. Here are the facts as they stand and hope that someone could help me...

Previous situation had two wall switches side-by-side where the first switch operated a ceiling light only. The second switch did nothing and I double-checked the electrical outlets top and bottom in the room. After taking the ceiling light off to install a ceiling fan with light I noticed many wires and am overwhelmed. I would like the first switch on the wall to operate the light on the ceiling fan and the second switch on the wall to operate the fan. Is this the normal set-up for two wall switches side-by-side other than the outlets being wired up to them. Anyway, the wiring as it stands from removing the light fixture has 3 bundles of wires to the junction box. 2 bundles have black, white and ground and 1 bundle has black, white, red and ground. This may be where it gets confusing (to me anyway :) ) the previous light fixture was hooked up to the black from the bundle with the red wire. The red wire was capped. The white wires from the other 2 bundles went to the light fixture white. So the remaining wires of 1 white and 2 black were capped together. If you could help me out I would really appreciate it.

Thanks.
Neil from Canada

[joed]

This should be simple. The wires were put in for you already.
Connect the fan white to the other whites.
Connect the fan back to the black thta the previous fixture was connect to.
Connect the fan blue(light wire) to the red capped wire. This is the other switch wire.
If the wrong switch controls the fan then swap the red and black connections.
If it doesn't work you will need to open the switch bos and check the wires in there.
Leave that white connected to the other blacks. It is OK.

[Neil999]

Thanks joed. I was hoping that it would be straight forward like you said. Internet forums like these are the best! :thumbup:

[Neil999]

Here is my situation after installing 2 of these ceiling fans this weekend.

The first ceiling fan, I installed with ceiling fan black to red and ceiling fan blue (wire for light) to black. The first wall switch operated the ceiling fan light and the second wall switch next to it operated the ceiling fan. All worked as planned but after a day the fan stopped working and a "burnt" smell was noticed. The light still works but the fan does not and just hums. I am hoping that this unit is defective and not something I did. I know this happens to ceiling fans but I didn't think it would happen to a new one.

The other ceiling fan had to be hooked up with the ceiling fan black to black and the ceiling fan blue (wire for light) to red to operate the 2 switches properly. So far so good for this one.

Both had ceiling fan whites to whites and grounds to grounds. Can anybody shed some light on the install so far (pardon the pun). Thanks in advance for any help. In the meantime, I will take the first ceiling fan back to get a replacement.

[Neil999]

I contacted the manufacturer of the ceiling fan that does not work and described my situation. He said that it sounds like a capacitor may be defective given the hum and burnt smell and light still works. He suggested I return unit for replacement...maybe it wasn't my wiring job after all.