Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - ceiling fan replacement

We are installing a replacement ceiling fan. From the ceiling box I have white, black, red and green wires. From the fan/light combo, I have white, black, blue and green. There is one switch on the wall that turns power on and off only. Speeds are controlled by pull chains. Do I connect the blue (which the directions say is the light "hot" with the black (which the directions say is the fan "hot") with the black from the ceiling? And what do I do with the red, which I assume is the switch?

What you should do is to connect the new wires in the same manner as the old wires. Unfortunately it sounds like you don't remember how the old fan was connected.

You will have to test the wires at the ceiling. This will be easier to do before you attempt to put up the ceiling fan. The most likely scenario is that the red wire is switched, and the black wire is always hot. However, this may not be the case. It's possible that one of those two wires is not even connected at the switch. I suggest that you pull the switch and examine the wires there too. You could even replace the switch with a double switch if you wanted to.

Next you decide how you want the fan/light to operate. Do you want the fan to always have power, and to turn it on or off via the pull chains? Or do you want the fan to turn on and off via the switch? What about the light?

Once you decide what you want, and once you know what the wiring is, making your connections is easy.

Thanks......so what we want is for the switch to turn the light on and off. The fan to have power and be controlled by the chains. Assuming the red is switched and the black is hot, for now.....does the blue wire go to the red one?

If the red in the ceiling is switched and the black in the ceiling is always hot;

And you want the fan to always have power, and the light to be switched;

Then connect the red ceiling wire to the blue light wire;

And connect the black ceiling wire to the black fan wire.

To complete the connections:

Connect the white ceiling wire to the white fan/light wire and connect the ceiling green wire to the light/fan green wire.

However, I still recommend testing the wires first, or even better yet, looking at the switch wiring. I would also replace the switch with a double one, but that may be more than you want to tackle.

jonmike,

As Rac said I would test them first. Traditionally the RED would be the switched but again assuming can get ya in big trouble.

I would suggest since you are venturing into doing some DIY electrical that you invest in a tick checker which is a non-contact voltage sniffer that you can use to do many of these little projects and check things for voltage.

If you use the "sniffer" you can determine which is hot all the time and which is switched...the switched one ( I would suspect the RED ) is the one you will connect the BLUE wire from the fan too.....but again easier to sleep at night KNOWING versus guessing.

Just want to thank you for the info. Both fan and light are working perfectly. Appreciate you being here......it was a bi help. You guys rock!;)