how do i rewire a very old oscillating fan?

Question

at one end the wires are wrapped around a large metal cylinder- i'm not sure where they actually end

Answer 1

depends on wet her you wanna reverse the fan direction just reverse the main leads ;to re wire the armature replace the stator and replace the contact brushes usually you just have to replace the brushes and clean The armature field windings are gonna be hard to find you can get the armature rewound if the fan is valuable to you enough also try to get some sort of wiring schematic that closely you resembles you application make sure you have an ohm meter to check electrical connections and voltage good luck so you can be safe use a power strip so the circuit will blow there and @ your fuse box.

Answer 2

Wire stapled to the ceiling should have set off alarm bells for a home inspector, so I will assume you did not hire one before purchasing the home. Worse yet, would be to assume that you actually hired someone to install the fan in it’s (until recently) present state. It doesn't sound like it was correctly installed in the first place. All ceiling fans are required to be installed using a listed, fan-rated box. Fans over 50# are also required to be supported independent of the box. While it will work no matter what wire is spliced to the other, THIS IS NOT ALLOWED by the NEC. One of the conductors is the Grounded (neutral) conductor; the other is the switch leg. The National Electrical Code does not allow the Grounded Conductor to be switched, doing so sets up anyone servicing the fixture in the future for a shock hazard, at the least. Bad burns, falling off of the ladder, ruining tools are just a few additional possibilities. If you find a third, bare conductor in the wiring, it is the Equipment Grounding Conductor. If there is a metal box in the ceiling, with a metal raceway (conduit), you will probably only have the Grounding Conductor from the fan assembly; bond that to the metal box with a listed and identified means of attachment (GREEN ground screw, or GREEN grounding clip – these are the only two choices for meeting this requirement). If you have no Equipment Grounding conductor coming from the fan, it is old enough to need to be replaced, anyway. PLEASE hire a qualified, licensed electrical contractor to replace it correctly; it won’t be cheap, but it should be right. With electricity, right is FAR more important than cheap. Cheap, unlicensed electricians are just a step below arsonists, in my opinion. The arsonist starts his fires for thrills. The unlicensed electrician starts fires out of ignorance. At least the arsonist knows what he’s doing.

Answer 3

You don't provide enough information to get decent advice. No responsible person is going to give you directions that might end up shocking you or burning your house down. When it comes to playing with 120V AC, if you have to ask, you shouldn't be doing it.

Answer 4

Dude, fans are like fifteen bucks, splurge on a new one at w'mart

Answer 5

buy a new one