Are you looking for an easy way to cut your energy costs and reduce your dependence on fossil fuels? Are you reluctant to sacrifice your comfort on hot summer days? A ceiling fan could be the answer!
You can use ceiling fans in your home to circulate air and create a breeze to keep yourself and your family cool in the summer. Simply change the direction of the fan blades in the winter to push warm air down from the ceiling and save on heating costs. If you don’t have any ceiling fans, you don’t need a man’s help to put one in. Here is the ladies’ guide to installing a new ceiling fan.
Use the Right Tools
You’ll need a screwdriver, a step ladder, a voltage tester, a measuring tape, and a pry bar.
Shut Off the Power Before You Begin
Installing a ceiling fan is an electrical job, so you’ll need to cut the power to the circuit before you start for safety. Go to your circuit breaker box and turn off the breaker that controls the circuit in the room where you’ll be working. If your circuits aren’t labeled, you’ll need to figure out on your own which breaker controls which circuit on your own. You can do that by mapping your home’s circuits.
Take Down the Fixture You’re Replacing
In order to install a ceiling fan yourself, you’re going to need to put it where there is already an existing fixture. Otherwise, you will need an electrician to run the new wiring.
Remove the old light fixture by first taking out the bulbs and detaching the bulb covers. Once the bulb covers and bulbs are off, you should be able to see the screws holding the light fixture in place. Unfasten these screws and pull the light fixture down from the ceiling. Remove the plastic caps from the wiring connections in the ceiling and pull the wires apart.
Change the Electrical Junction Box If Necessary
You will need to replace the electrical junction box in your ceiling with one that is rated for use with ceiling fans. A fan-rated junction box is strong enough to support the weight of a fan, but a light-rated box is not. Pry the old junction box off the joist or, if it’s screwed on, take out the screws. Install a fan-rated junction box by screwing it to the joist.
If there isn’t a joist running above the hold where your light fixture was installed, you will need to put a metal fan brace in between the joists on either side of the hole. You can insert a fan brace through the hole in the ceiling and expand it from below. Spikes on either end will dig into the wood of the joists, securing the mounting bracket and providing a solid anchor for your new fan.
Attach the Mounting Plate to the Junction Box
Your new ceiling fan should come with a ceiling mounting plate. Anchor it to the junction box using the screws or bolts provided with your new chandelier ceiling fan.
Assemble the Fan Motor and Downrod
Use the instructions that came with your new ceiling fan to put together the fan motor on the floor. This should involve securing the downrod to the top of the fan motor with pins, or by screwing it in and fastening a locking nut. Pull the wires from the fan motor up through the downrod before you attach the downrod to the fan motor. Put the fan canopy over the downrod. If you bought a model of fan that doesn’t have a downrod, you will probably just need to attach the fan canopy directly to the fan motor. The assembly directions that came with your fan will help.
Connect Your Fan Motor to Your Home’s Wiring
Now it’s time to climb your step ladder and wire your new fan. You should be able to hang the fan downrod from the mounting plate and free your hands for working with the wiring. There will either be a hook on the mounting plate for this purpose, or you’ll be able to set the end of the downrod right into the socket on the mounting plate.
Don’t be intimidated by the wiring work. Household electrical wires are color-coded. The black wire is hot, and the white wire is neutral. The green or bare wire is the ground wire. Wrap the ground wire in your ceiling around the green ground screw in the junction box, and tighten the screw a little to hold the ground wire securely in place. Then connect like colors to like colors – the white wire coming out of your ceiling should connect to the white wire coming out of your fan and so on. If you have different wire colors coming out of your fan, consult the wiring schematic for the fan to find out how to connect those other wires. You can wire your fan differently depending on whether you want to connect it to a wall switch.
Once you have made the wiring connections, secure them with plastic wire connector caps. Stuff the wiring connections into the junction box. Set the downrod into its socket if you haven’t yet, and screw the fan canopy in place to hide the mounting plate and connections.
Put on the Finishing Touches
Now you just have to put on the fan blades and hook up your fan’s light fixture, if it has one. Secure each fan blade bracket to each fan blade and then attach them to the fan motor housing. Use your tape measure to ensure that each fan blade is the same distance from the floor as all the others.
Once you have your fan blades on, you can wire up the lights. Sometimes the light fixture will just plug into the motor housing, and sometimes you’ll need to wire it up to matching wires coming out of your fan’s motor housing. Connect like colors together and use wiring caps to secure the connections. Use your light fixture fasteners to attach the fixture to the fan. Add the bulb covers and put in new light bulbs. Now you’re ready to start using your new fan.
