Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - How Do I Connect 12 Ceiling Fans Together?

Hello,

I tried to post this question earlier and got nowhere. If I end up with two of the same then...oops....sorry.

I have 12 ceiling fans that I would like to install in my workshop and would like to know how I would go about wiring them so all 12 fans are controlled by one dimmer type switch, and all the light packages attached to the fans are controlled by a seperate dimmer switch. Do I need a special heavy duty controller to do this?

Commonly-available dimmers only go as high as 1000 watts. If the lights on the fans are 75 watts of less each, you could use one dimmer. Otherwise, you'll need more than one. As you approach 1000 watts, the dimmer will get pretty hot.

You cannot use a regular dimmer to control fan speed. Most fan speed controls are only made for one fan, but some might control two or three.

I would suggest putting a remote control fan receiver in each fan. If you set all the codes the same, you can use just one remote transmitter to set the light level and fan speed of all fans at the same time. This would also get around the 1000-watt limitation of wall dimmers.

Thanks for the advice John. That's the way I'll go.

Some companies that sell industrial fans offer controls that can operate 15 amps worth of fans. Envirofan is one. Dayton, the house brand of Grainger, is another. These controls are pretty expensive, but so are 12 individual controls!

What types of fans are you dealing with?