Replies

1. 
   jonblakemore | Mar 31, 2005 08:41pm | #1

   I think the fan running backwards is a sympton of the wiring being reversed. Could be wrong though.

   What happens when you flip the switch to on?

    

   Jon Blakemore

1. 
   Cy | Mar 31, 2005 09:06pm | #2

   It runs the opposite direction when you turn it on, at full speed. It's intermittant while the switch is off, and runs slowly.

2. 
   BillHartmann | Mar 31, 2005 09:26pm | #3

   There is a sneak path in there someplace.

   I suspect that the neutral on the lighting circuit is connected to some internal part of the motor circuit.

   But there are a million and 1 fan setups.

   Does this one have lights?

   Does it have separate fan and light controls on the wall? Do those controls have fan reversal?

   Does it have a "remotoe" control?

   Is it wired with 2 or 3 wires?

1. 
   IMERC | Mar 31, 2005 09:28pm | #4

   I'm in fer the switch being toast...

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

   WOW!!!   What a Ride!

   Forget the primal scream,  just ROAR!!!

1. 
   BillHartmann | Mar 31, 2005 09:58pm | #7

   "I'm in fer the switch being toast..."THE switch.A fan can have upto 5 switches.Doubt that it is in the "switch" unless it have a two wire remote control type of system.

1. 
   IMERC | Mar 31, 2005 10:22pm | #9

   wait one...

   let's get some more information...

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

   WOW!!!   What a Ride!

   Forget the primal scream,  just ROAR!!!

1. 
   Cy | Mar 31, 2005 11:36pm | #10

   It's only got a reverse switch on the unit. It's got a light, there are 2 hot wires, black and red, both connected to the same switch. There's a green ground and the neutral. It hasn't always done this, it started yesterday. The fan has 1998 on the sticker, so it's been there a while, we've only lived in the house for just over a year. It's a mystery. Thanks for all the replies. I'll check the switch and all the wiring, to make sure it's all okay.

2. 
   IMERC | Mar 31, 2005 11:51pm | #12

   what kind of switch do you have on the wall???

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

   WOW!!!   What a Ride!

   Forget the primal scream,  just ROAR!!!

3. 
   Cy | Apr 01, 2005 12:09am | #14

   the switch is in a duplex box on the wall. There are 2 pull cord switches on the fan, as well as the direction switch. I haven't had a chance to check the wiring yet, I will tonight. My gf said it was running like that last night, and our heat doesn't run at night this time of year. I'll check it out though, just strange that I didn't notice it for over a year, seems like a new problem.

4. 
   IMERC | Apr 01, 2005 12:24am | #15

   what type of switch???

   flip on off. slide/twist reostat, push button or multi-posistion???

   that advice on the heat coming is worth a look see before you tear into it...

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

   WOW!!!   What a Ride!

   Forget the primal scream,  just ROAR!!!

5. 
   Cy | Apr 01, 2005 12:43am | #16

   it's a decora style flip switch, 2 chain switches on the lamp, one for the fan, one for the light.

6. 
   DanH | Apr 01, 2005 01:14am | #17

   The normal setup for a low/medium level unit is to have three wires -- black, white, and blue (plus ground) coming from the unit. The blue (IIRC) is the motor, the black the light (or maybe it's the other way around). If you have only one switch on the wall you wire the blue and black together to the incoming black and turn fan and light on/off together.The wall "switch" can be a single switch, two switches, or a switch (for the lights) and a fan speed control. Obviously, with a single switch you control fan and light together, and have only black and white feeding the fan box.There will generally be a small slide switch on the fan body somewhere to control fan direction, and one or two pull-chain switches. If only one pull-chain switch, it's probably to control the lights (usually a choice between none on, 2 on, 3 on, or 5 on, for a five-bulb fan). The second pull-chain, if present, controls fan speed -- slow/medium/high, etc.First thing to do is to work through all the possible switch settings and see if anything illogical is happening (aside from the reverse motion).

2. 
   IMERC | Mar 31, 2005 11:51pm | #11

   still say it's the switch...

   wall or fan...

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

   WOW!!!   What a Ride!

   Forget the primal scream,  just ROAR!!!

3. 
   PhillGiles | Mar 31, 2005 09:41pm | #5

   You have to get the manufacturer, date, and model from the fan and go looking for specifics on the net. One possibility is that the afn are not "switched", but controlled by a pulse or stop-start from the switch. Usually when I see fans that seem to be inhabited by polterguise, either there's two or three layers of previous owners and one set has replaced the momentary contact switch with an SPST and never quite figured out why the fan works oddly; or, gosh, it never did work like we thought it should.

   Try for the user's manual if you can find one.

   .
   Phill Giles
   The Unionville Woodwright
   Unionville, Ontario
4. 
   DanH | Mar 31, 2005 09:47pm | #6

   This is a bit odd. You won't get the motor to run backwards by running electricity through it backwards -- the direction is determined by the way two coils on the motor are wired relative to each other.

   I suspect that the previous hacker got the light wiring intermingled with the fan wiring, in particular the wires going to the reversing switch.

   Whatever the problem is, it's pretty much entirely in the fan, and the way the fan is wired in its box. Assuming the only reversing switch is on the fan itself, there's no way that wiring in the wall/control could be causing this.

1. 
   sledgehammer | Apr 01, 2005 01:32am | #18

   The fan will run backwards if the neutral has somehow become energized. Most fans have a slide switch to reverse direction. Sliding that switch doesn't rewire the motor.

   I once had a cust. with a bedroom fan . Replaced it with a new one and the motor buzzed like a bees nest. When you turned on the bath light it ran faster and if you plugged something in the wall socket it went like a Cessna. Seems the old fan that didn't work, gee no wonder, was wired all screwed up by yes .... a licensed electrician. I got the shock of my life from a neutral on a known dead circuit. He had 2 circuits really messed up. Had to disassemble everything and continuity test every wire to figure it out. 5 hours later the fan worked like a champ.

1. 
   DanH | Apr 01, 2005 02:18am | #19

   Actually, sliding the switch does rewire the motor. Flips the starter cap from one winding to the other, so the old starter winding is the new run winding and vice-versa. (Actually, it's technically a "run" cap, I suppose, but that gets too confusing.)

5. 
   IMERC | Mar 31, 2005 10:21pm | #8

   has it always done this or is this something new???

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

   WOW!!!   What a Ride!

   Forget the primal scream,  just ROAR!!!

6. 
   MikeS | Apr 01, 2005 12:00am | #13

   Could it be hvac air currents pushing the blades.

   Our fan will sometimes move about 30 rpm when the heat kicks in.

    

    

   Mike

   It's O.k. to think out of the box,           Just don't walk off of the plank!

7. 
   househelper | Apr 01, 2005 02:59am | #20

   We've got one that does the same thing...it's being pushed by the air currents from the HVAC.