I need some electrical advice... I know a little about wiring but here are the questions...?

Question

I need to put 2 ceiling fans in my living room, there is no power running to the ceiling, so I would need to figure out how to run a switch and wire the fans. Also, I need to install an outlet in a bathroom. So any help, or even a step 1, 2, 3 etc would be great. I have a circuit breaker box in the basement, no available breakers, but I am guessing with these low pressure things, I would not need new circuits:? Let me know, Thank You

Answer 1

man so much to address here. if the fans are that important to you. hire an electrician it sounds like more than a saturday job. especially if you have no open circuits available in your power box.

good luck

Answer 2

So far, everyone has given very good answers but in your situation I'm going to suggest something different. Because there is no existing wiring in the ceiling and because there are no available breakers...here's the simple 1-2-3:

1. call an electrician
2. hire the electrician
3. sit back and enjoy a cocktail while the electrician does his job correctly so your house doesn't burn down and you're not dead on the floor of your basement trying to add a new braker to your 200 amp electrical box.

Sorry to be a little sarcastic, but electrical work is something to take very seriously. Changing light fixtures with existing wiring or replacing a switch or outlet is easy enough for most homeowners, but adding new wiring to your home is much more complicated. Do the right thing and hire a pro.

Answer 3

I work at a supply house and you need to call an electrician. However here it goes: If you house is 200 amp service and your panel is full, one day youre gonna need a bigger panel, or either a new one that you can sub-feed. You dont have to do that now. They do make 1/2 size breakers, all this is, is a breaker thats the same size as a regular 20 amp single pole breaker but is actually 2 breakers in one. They are also called tandem breakers. Any good supply house should have them. (I hate Lowes by the way...if you call them and they say Thank you for calling Lowes how can i help you?....dont ask them anything else, because they have told you all they know.) If you dont have power to your ceiling you are gonna have to get into the attic and run the appropriate wires. Probably 12/2 romex though. You have to cut a hole in your ceiling and put in a fan box or a sheetrock cut in ceiling box. One that secures to a 2x4 in your attic to hold the fans up. Then, once you've run the wires from your panel through your attic to your box, you have to hook the fan up. Then you also have to run wires down your wall to another hole youre gonna have to cut in and put in a sheetrock box. All this thing does is when you cut the hole in your wall it has tabs that screw up to keep the box from pulling back out of your wall. You can also buy a remote switch to control the fan, but its pretty pricy. It would be a simple thing for a qualified electrician but its one of those things where if you dont know what you are doing you can turn it into a nightmare.

Answer 4

Just a comment on the fans since I am working on that same situation right now.

What you need to do is get a fan that accepts a remote control (most either have one with them or will take a compact universal control). Then all you need to do is get the power cable directly to the fan (which needs to be in an electrical box that is sturdy enough to support its weight - code requirement). As far as the controls the remotes are battery powered and made to go inside an electrical box mounted where you would usually put a switch. However it does not need wire run to it or from it to the fan. The control will have the ability to turn on (by radio link) the fan at a choice of speeds and dim the light or turn it on/off.

Answer 5

You can tap off any existing circuit to run these lines - you are right that they probably won't affect your load on any one circuit dramatically. Find one that is the closest point/fixture to the ceiling area and bathroom. Get the proper electrical cable and run it through the ceiling by using a stick or pole attached to the cable to hole in the ceiling where you are going to put the fans - there are circuit boxes you can buy for this setup, that attach to the overhead joist. Likewise with the bathroom outlet, the outlet box is using toe-nailed into the side of an existing wall stud. Each of the points you mention will require that you have some electrical experience and are able to snake electrical cable through the walls to get to the points for the fans and outlet. If you have any doubts to your abilities you might want to consult an electrician knowledgeable in such things.

Answer 6

First question is whats above the ceiling? If it is an attic things will be easier, you just locate your boxes and put in your hangers then drill through your sill plates and run the wire.

If you do not have access then you have to make your runs through joists and things get tricky, you need to really plan things out and make sure you have all the right drill bits.

When you do the bathroom make sure you use a gfi outlet.

As far as loads go guessing is not the right thing to do, If your house ever burns down as a result of your wiring your insurance company might not pay a claim. Most towns will allow you to do your own electric but require plans and inspections. Inspections are always a good idea just to be safe.

Answer 7

First of all HIRE A PROFESSIONAL!
Electricity can be very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing especially when it involves moving blades over your head. But if you must make sure that you use a fan rated electrical box that can support the heavy weight. Then you can either bring in switched power for the fan by fishing some romex to the current switch that you have in the room and extending the size of current box in witch the switch is in by one gang. Or (and this is much easier) you can always power the fan by a "constant hot" which is any 120v line that is easiest accessible probably being from the plug in your attic, assuming you have one, and because your fan will be constantly hot you will have to switch it using the pull chains or remote.

Answer 8

1. You will run a power line to the location for the switch - it will have three wires(Black, white, and ground)
2. you will run a second line from the fan to the switch ( again with the three wires).
3. Inside the switch box you will connect the white wires with wire nuts and elec. tape.
4. You will connect the grounds to the ground on the switch.
5. You will connect the two black wires to the switch.

6. If you need to install a second fan you can do one of two methods.
. . a. Run the wires from that second fan to the switch box also and connect all white wires with a wire nut and tape. Connect all Fans black wires with a wire nut and tape. You will have a piece of a black wire to go from this wire nut to the switch
( that switch will send power to the both fans at the same time.) Connect all grounds with a wire nut and tape, then run a smaller piece of ground from this wire nut to the switch ground.

.... b. Connect the two fans to one central box on the ceiling ( Black to Black, White to White, and Ground to Ground). Run one line from this central box to the switch and make connections in here. This is a cleaner method, and less cumbersome at the switch. You may be able to cut out a piece of the ceiling to make this box flush, or if using a drop ceiling it won't matter(behind the ceiling tile).


#2, the bathroom outlet
1. Open up existing light switch in bathroom(power off).
2. Run a line from the location where you want your outlet, to this switch box.
3. in the switch box - the new line connect to each wire in there of the same color.
Find Black power line in switch and connect your new Black wire to this one with wire nut, with a third Black wire going back to the switch were there was the black power line. You see, you are using the black power line to send power to two places, to the outlet and to the switch at the same time, so the three need to be connected, White to White, and Ground to Ground.
3. Make sure the wires on the switch are still connected just like they were ( power black, light black, and ground), then close switch box.
4. At the outlet - connect the black wire to the goldish terminal screw, and the white wire to the white gold / silver terminal, and the ground to the ground on the outlet(might be a green srew on top).
5. Close outlet box.
6. Return power.
7 You should have power in the outlet all of the time, and the switch should still operate the light that it did before - and function like it did.


P.S. If you have a nearby outlet in the room with the two fans you may be able to run a line off of that outlet for the power line for the fans.

Also, if you use a dimmer switch you can controll the speeds of the fans ( both same speed since there is only one switch).