Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - Washroom fan will not turn off??

New to the forum- and am looking for some assistance. If this is in the wrong area, I apologize!

my switch box has 2 switches: light and fan.
I have lived in this house for about 1 1/2 yrs, and never had this problem until now. The house is about 8-12 years old.
Just the other day, my washroom fan was not turining off when using the switch. The light switch works fine- you can turn it off and on.
I thought that the fan switch needed to be replaced, so today, I repalced the switch with a new one, but am having the same issue- so replacing the switch was not the problem. It just does not turn off ever unless cutting power from circut breaker. I am concerned because it is loud, and a waste of electricity.

Can anyone offer some suggestions? I am not that knowledgeable about this kinda stuff, so please dumb it down a notch when you reply :p

Thanks :)

It is highly unusual for something like this to just spontaneously start. The onset is usually associated with something. Did anything happen? A storm? An earthquake? Somebody hung a picture? Mounted a cabinet or bookshelf? A guest in your house?

The problem will probably reveal itself if a knowledgeable person opens up the wiring at both the switch box and the fan. Perhaps two wires somehow started touching each other.

Yes confusing, You changed the switch, so you have looked at all of the wires. In a typical installation I would expect one black and white wire for power in and one red black and white for switch legs to the fan/light assembly. If power feeds to other areas, then there may be one or more other black and white wires in the box. If you can give us a wire count it might help. Also confirm if it is a fan/light assembly or two seperate fixtures. If your light and fan are two seperate units then it will have different wires than described above.

Kill the breaker, remove the fan switch and cap or tape the exposed wires. Make sure everything looks safe, and turn the breaker back on. Does the fan come on again?

Give us some more details on the wires and if you are comfortable with trying the suggestion above, let us know what you found.
Bud

It is highly unusual for something like this to just spontaneously start. The onset is usually associated with something. Did anything happen? A storm? An earthquake? Somebody hung a picture? Mounted a cabinet or bookshelf? A guest in your house?

The problem will probably reveal itself if a knowledgeable person opens up the wiring at both the switch box and the fan. Perhaps two wires somehow started touching each other.

Nothing out of the norm has happened, no storms, etc. And nothing was mounted or installed anywhere near the washroom

Yes confusing, You changed the switch, so you have looked at all of the wires. In a typical installation I would expect one black and white wire for power in and one red black and white for switch legs to the fan/light assembly. If power feeds to other areas, then there may be one or more other black and white wires in the box. If you can give us a wire count it might help. Also confirm if it is a fan/light assembly or two seperate fixtures. If your light and fan are two seperate units then it will have different wires than described above.

Kill the breaker, remove the fan switch and cap or tape the exposed wires. Make sure everything looks safe, and turn the breaker back on. Does the fan come on again?

Give us some more details on the wires and if you are comfortable with trying the suggestion above, let us know what you found.
Bud

Thanks!
I will provide you guys with more info, and even take some photos of everything and post them here later on. After shutting down the breaker, replacing the switch (and everything appearing ok inside the box) I turned the breaker back on and the fan continued to run. There are some wires in there with caps as well... like I said I will take some pics and hopefully that will help.
Is it possible it is the actual fan unit in the ceiling that is damaged?

Is it possible it is the actual fan unit in the ceiling that is damaged?If properly wired, no. There should be no power to the fan with the switch off, so no matter how the fan might be damaged, it should not run with the switch off. If the switch is improperly switching the neutral instead of the hot, then it is theoretically possible for a short inside the fan to cause it to run all the time.

Do you have any electrical test instruments?

No I do not have any electrical test instruments, but will be posting pics today of the switch box and wires.


No idea of this is related at all either- but since then, I have noticed that some of the electrical sockets in the kitchen (next to the washroom) are not working either- some work, and even one of the two in the same box work, but one doesn't...and 2 or 3 of the electrical outlets have this problem in the kitchen..
Is it possible these are related?

Thanks again