ceiling fan help

[redman43]

In all 4 bedrooms in my house, I'd like to replace the ceiling light fixtures with ceiling fans (including lights). It's a three year old house if it matters.

Rooms 1, 2 and 3 have a standard ceiling light fixture in the middle of the ceiling controlled by the only switch in the room. Room 4 has no ceiling light fixture but does have an outlet that is controlled by the only switch in the room.

I'd prefer to have the light and fan controls independant of each other.

Is there a way to do this with single switches and single gang boxes in each location? I'd rather not have to run another wire or swap to double gang boxes, but will if necessary.

 

[hammlm]

Probably not. Have you pulled the switch and the existing fixture yet? If it was wired with 14-2 (or 12-2), no. If it is 14-3 (or 12-3), yes with the exception of your fourth room.

In that fourth room case, you have a bit of a puckersnatch, and will depend how it is wired currently. Can you tell if it's just a switch leg controlling the outlet, or is the switched recep fed through the switch?

 

[WanderingSol]

I bought a Calypso brand fan back in the '80's. It came with a four button control that takes the place of a light switch. Uses the existing wire to the ceiling. Light switch (5 brightness levels), Fan switch (5 speed settings), Reverse switch, and power switch. It was a $300 fan back then, still works great and still noiseless!

 

[Mickey O]

EMT (metal conduit)? Romex? Attic access above? Access below? It can be done, it's just a matter of how difficult it will be.

 

[phiftyseven]

Surprised no one mentioned the ceiling boxes yet. If they are just your standard ceiling box for light fixtures, then a ceiling fan should not be installed. A proper ceiling fan box is what should be used, or pull the original box out and install a ceiling brace and box.

 

[deter]

First check the wires available. We always ran 12-3 (or 14-3) to bedroom lights whether they were spec'd for fans or not. Also, check that you have actual fan boxes... please don't hang a fan from a light box

 

[Steevo]

For the rooms with a ceiling box in place for a light, it is absolutely possible.
You need to buy a fan remote kit, which has a receiver that fits into the "cone" or "canopy" at the ceiling hanger for the fan, controlled by a transmitter that fits in the light switch location. It sends signals over the power line to the fan, allowing independent control of fan/speed lights/dimmer. The only question will be whether the ceiling boxes are sufficiently anchored to support a hanging fan.

 

[redman43]

Sounds like I need to get up into the attic space and take a look around.

I believe it is going to be 12-2 (possibly 14-2) wiring with plastic, non-fan rated boxes nailed to the structure. It's probably not in any type of conduit.

The fourth room is actually an open loft right now that is the size of a bedroom. We may have to wall it off as a seperate bedroom which will necessitate moving the existing switch to near where the door will be. At that point, we'd just re-do the whole thing. I believe it is currently setup as a direct line just to the outlet, but I haven't checked.

When the house was being built, I had the option of having all the rooms pre-wired for future ceiling fan installation at ~$100/room which included wiring, and the proper ceiling boxes. I opted not to do it as I figured it would likely be cheaper for me to do it later on my own. I never even thought of the PITA factor. I know it's a relatively easy task, but you know what they say about hindsight. I'll just add one more item to the list of things I opted not to do during construction and am now kicking myself over (fence in and landscape the backyard, irrigation system in front and rear, more circuits/outlets in the garage, wall off the fourth bedroom, among many other small things).

 

[DRP6833]

Depending on the brand of fan you should be able to get a wireless remote. I put in one of these on a Hunter fan; it mounts in the wall j-box and controlls both the fan and light with one pair of wires.

 

[redman43]

I walked into HomeDepot the other day and saw those wireless remotes, as well as a few other brands/models.

I guess there is a receiver that mounts up in the fan unit that gets a wireless signal from these things to control everything. Rather expensive, but probably worth it when compared to the alternative. I think I may end up going that route.