How To Repair Ceiling Fan Light Switch

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If your ceiling fan pull chain is broken because it was pulled out of the switch, there's an easy style to fix it. Open the switch in the ceiling fan and remove the cleaved piece of chain before replacing it with a longer one. If your switch is completely broken, purchase a replacement at a local hardware store earlier removing the quondam i and installing the new switch. Brand sure you turn the ability source off before taking apart the ceiling fan to be safe.

1. one

   Turn the power off at the circuit breaker for condom. Locate your circuit breaker, likely either in the basement, a closet, or even outside the house. Open the circuit billow and turn the power off for the room where yous'll be working with the ceiling fan to make sure electricity isn't still flowing when you're removing the fan's parts.^[one]

   • If you're not sure which switch is for the room with the ceiling fan, turn off the main power just to exist safe.

2. two

   Remove the lite bulbs to forestall them from breaking. Set a ladder or step stool if necessary to achieve the ceiling fan hands. Unscrew the light bulbs advisedly and place them on a towel nearby. If the ceiling fan has whatsoever sconces or globes, remove these every bit well by unscrewing them or using a screwdriver to remove whatever screws.^[ii]

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3. 3

   Apply a screwdriver to remove the screws holding the light fixture in place. The ceiling fan's fixture, or the main housing where the wiring is stored, volition be held together with a few visible screws. Use a screwdriver to take out these screws, loosening the fixture to see the wiring and switch.^[3]

   • Prepare the screws and detachable fixture piece aside in a safe place to reattach them afterward.

4. 4

   Unscrew the nut on the side of the fixture that holds the switch. Look on the outside of the fixture for a pocket-sized nut. Unscrew this nut to remove it completely, letting you admission the ceiling fan pull chain switch. Prepare the nut aside for safekeeping.^[4]

5. 5

   Pull out the switch to audit the chain more closely. At present that the switch is loosened from the fixture, look at it upwards close. If the wiring of the switch is broken, supersede information technology completely. Leverage the switch open using a screwdriver to meet if the chain only needs to be replaced with a longer piece, or if it would be best to go a new switch all together.^[v]

   • If the concatenation looks replaceable, utilize a longer length of chain you already have to fix it instead of purchasing some other one.
   • If the switch looks broken, visit a local hardware store to buy a replacement.

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1. 1

   Pop open the switch using a small screwdriver. Leverage open up the tabs forth the switch using a screwdriver. Once yous separate it into its 2 pieces, the things inside of it, similar the chain and spring, volition exist visible. With the switch open, remove it from the wiring by pulling the wires out from the switch.^[6]

   • Exist careful not to lose any of the pieces when you pop the switch open up.
   • If you don't see the spring and chain, pop off the protective plate holding them inside the switch.

2. 2

   Remove the cleaved slice of concatenation from the mechanism. Remove the contents of the switch, including the broken piece of chain connected to a disc and the leap. All of the contents inside the switch will be loose, making it easy to simply take them out. Pop the broken chain off of the disc using a screwdriver. Discard the broken chain afterward you've removed it.^[seven]

3. 3

   Put a longer slice of concatenation in the sometime chain's spot. Merely equally you removed the short broken chain, pop a longer chain that volition achieve through the fixture into identify in the former concatenation's spot. Snap the longer concatenation into the disc where the broken chain was using your fingers.^[viii]

4. 4

   Reassemble the switch by putting the chain and spring back into identify. Put the spring and concatenation fastened to the disc back into the switch. Pull the chain through the pigsty in the switch so you tin can pull on it hands. If you popped off a protective plate that holds everything together, press this dorsum into place too.^[9]

   • Hold downwards the bound and chain mechanism using your finger or a screwdriver and so it doesn't popular up while you lot're attaching the ii main switch pieces together.
   • The 2 switch halves will press dorsum into each other easily.

5. 5

   Place the switch dorsum inside the fixture and reattach the switch nut. Put the switch back in the wires just equally yous took information technology out. Make sure you place the switch next to the spot where you unscrewed the nut from the outside of the fixture. Spiral the nut dorsum into identify to hold the switch.^[10]

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1. 1

   Purchase a replacement switch at your local abode improvement store. Either take a picture of your old switch so you know which one to purchase, or disassemble the old switch and have it with you. Wait for a "fan light switch" or something labeled similarly.^[11]

   • Ask an employee at the dwelling house improvement or hardware shop for help if you're not certain which switch to buy.

2. 2

   Disconnect the wires attached to the old switch. Pulling or twisting off the connectors that hold together the wires volition disconnect them from the sometime switch. Remove each wire that's attached to the former switch by pulling off the connectors, and take the old switch out.^[12]

   • Take a film of which wires are connected to the switch earlier disassembling it to reference the picture when putting it back together.

3. 3

   Strip 0.5–0.75 in (1.3–1.9 cm) of insulation off of the wires to adhere them. Apply a wire stripper to strip the insulation off of the ends of the wires fastened to the new switch, cut into the insulation with the stripper before pulling it towards the end of the wire to remove it. This will allow the electrical connection to pass through the wires.^[xiii]

4. 4

   Twist the wires together and embrace them with connectors. Locate the sometime wires that your new wires will attach to and twist them together tightly using a clockwise movement. Many wires are colour-coded, making it easy to lucifer the correct wires together. Cover the bare wire with a twist-on connector, making sure the entire blank wire is covered.^[14]

   • Refer to the movie y'all took of the wires the former switch connected to, if needed.
   • Twist-on connectors are also called wire nuts and can exist plant at your local hardware store.

5. 5

   Put the new switch into the fan housing to reattach the nut on the outside. Since you removed the pocket-sized nut on the exterior of the fixture that holds the switch in place earlier, information technology's time to reattach it. Hold the switch inside the fixture, and screw the nut back on to the outside of the fixture to hold the switch in identify.^[15]

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1. 1

   Agree the fixture over the wiring and spiral it back into identify. With your switch replaced, place the part of the fixture that you removed back into place on top of the wiring. Agree it steady and use the screws to screw it dorsum in using a screwdriver.^[xvi]

   • Ask someone to hold the fixture in place while you screw the screws dorsum in, if desired.

2. 2

   Put the lightbulbs dorsum into the fixture if needed. If you removed whatsoever globes or sconces that went around the bulbs, reattach these first either by twisting them back on or using a screwdriver to reinstall the screws. Pick upwardly the lightbulbs and carefully twist each 1 back into identify in the fixture.^[17]

3. 3

   Plough the ability back on through the breaker. Return to the circuit billow and flip the switch that turns back on the power. If your circuit billow isn't labeled, make certain you turned the right power dorsum on by testing the light switch in the ceiling fan room.^[18]

4. 4

   Test the pull chain to see if it works. Flip the power switch in the room if necessary to turn the fan on. At present that your ceiling fan pull chain switch is fully installed, pull on it gently to see if information technology works. If the lights come on or the fan starts to rotate, it's all fixed.^[19]

   • Avoid pulling on the chain using a lot of forcefulness because this is often how information technology breaks.

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Add New Question

• Question

  If the chain but came off in my mitt do I take to buy a new switch or tin I only put the chain back on?

  

  This happened to me three days ago. I had to buy a new 3-speed ceiling fan switch as the chain that bankrupt will NOT go back in the switch. Y'all'll demand a large paper prune to get the wires in the final as per the directions that came with the one I bought from Lowe's.

• Question

  How practice I know if the fan switch is working?

  

  You lot will need a power tester with a light. Cheque each last for power with the switch on and off -- if information technology lights up when you turn the switch on, information technology is a good switch.

• Question

  We want to connect a three-speed wall switch to supersede the concatenation-pull switch on our ceiling fan. At some point at that place was a switch for a calorie-free, which was removed. There are 4 blackness wires inside the wall with wire nuts on them. The new iii-speed switch has 2 blackness wires. How can we tell what nosotros are supposed to connect?

  

  2 of the wires were for the light and two for the fan. You volition demand a voltage tester calorie-free to see which ones are power, unless two or 3 of the black wires are wired together, then those would be the ability and the other black wires would be for the fan or light.

• Question

  My pull chain is threaded through the threaded stock that holds the low-cal cover on, where is the switch? How do I get to it?

  

  Kickoff, plow off the breaker or fuse for this electric area. Remove the light comprehend. Look for screws that hold the light plate in. Go along i manus below the plate and hold onto it as you unscrew the screws. Mitt the screws to someone, or driblet into a pants' pocket. The unit you are looking for will be inside the housing.

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Things You lot'll Need

• Ladder
• Screwdriver

• New chain

• Wire stripper
• Replacement switch
• Twist-on connectors

Thanks for submitting a tip for review!

• Disconnect the electricity by turning off the ability before treatment the ceiling fan.

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Virtually This Article

Article Summary X

To replace a ceiling fan pull switch, you'll need to remove the former switch, detach the wires, and attach a new switch direct to the terminals. To first, turn off the circuit breaker that leads to your fan, so you don't take a chance electrocuting yourself. And then, remove the comprehend on the fan and unscrew the nut on the outside of the pull switch, so you tin pull it out. Make certain yous write downwardly the colors of each wire and which terminals they connect to, since y'all'll need this information later on. Once you've removed the pull switch, take it to a home improvement store, and purchase a new i. The new switch should exist identical in size, number of speeds, and wattage, or else it won't exist compatible. When you adhere the new switch, refer to your notes so you lot can connect the colored wires to the appropriate terminals. In one case they're attached, spiral the basics back in, replace the fan embrace, and flip the circuit breaker back on. To acquire how to attach a new switch using wire nuts, read on!

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Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Replace-a-Ceiling-Fan-Pull-Chain-Switch

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