HELP! Which wire's "Hot"????

[Pebblszzz]

***You will not be held liable if I get killed, I promise***

Oh, please help a helpless female, someone! (LOL)

Ok, somewhere out there is an electrician, or just somebody who knows which wire is which....I hope.

I'm installing a celing fan, and yes, I've done this before, but it was over 10 years ago.

New house, got 4 wires coming out of the ceiling (I had it pre-wired for ceiling fans):

White
Black
Red
Ground (the bare one, I presume)

Fan has:

Black - "hot power for the fan" (per directions)
Blue - "hot power for optional light kit" (which I'll be installing)
White - "Common wire for fan and light kit"
Green - ground

If nobody replies by the time I get the blades and downrod installed, I'm connecting:

White to white
Black to black
Blue to red
Green to ground

Nobody's home, so if I electrocute myself, no one will find me for a few days....it'll take my boss a while to realize I'm not at work since she's outta town...

Help? Anyone?

:::fanning self:::: Whatever shall I do?

 

[Pebblszzz]

ok, can I get a "best guess"????

pretty-please? Only 2 more blades and I'm climbing on that ladder...

If nothing else, may I please have some PD for luck?

 

[zurgswife]

Zurg says Black is Hot...

 

[Pebblszzz]

I think I must've worded my original question badly.

My REAL question is: should I connect red to blue?

 

[GeorgeG]

From what you've described, you have two hot wires, black and red. If you have two wall switches for this fan, one would be for the fan itself (possibly a variable for the different speeds) and the other for the light (possibly a dimmer). You should determine which is which.

Your choices are likely correct.

The bare is definitely a ground, as is green and these should be connected and also fastened to the box if it's metal.

The white is a "neutral," often incorrectly called a ground, even though they are both connected to the same bus in the panel box. White goes to white.

The Black and red are both "hot" legs and if they both come from the same kind of switch it doesn't matter which goes to which, but black should go to black to be uniform and the red to blue.

If the house was wired correctly, black would go to black and red to blue, even though either should work.

 

[Pebblszzz]

BLESS YOU, GEORGE!!!!

I just finished hanging it, but I still have to put on the light kit before I can test it.

So far, so good!

Thanks so much for taking the time to spell it all out for me.

And yes, there are 2 wall switches. 3, actually - but I've identified the 3rd as an outlet (plug) across the room.

 

[Pebblszzz]

I'm baaad, uh-huh!!!!

De fan be spinnin', and de light be glowin'....

GEORGE IS MY HERO!!!!

 

[Disney845]

Good thing to know that we won't be having to call the emergency services over to Pebblszzz's house tonight!! Glad you got it all working properly.

I was helping my mother change some of her electrical plugs a few weeks ago. She was going from the almond colored outlet to a white outlet and we thought that we had all of the power off. Everything went fine for the light switch color change at least, but when it came to the wall plug, she found herself a bit....electrified as she touched the metal!! To be on the safe side, we just flipped the breaker so that ALL power was off in the house....of course it may have been smarter to have finished changing these switches and outlets during the daylight time, because reconnecting the wires at night by flashlight is a bit of a pain!!