How To Repair A Pull Chain On A Ceiling Fan

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If your ceiling fan pull chain is cleaved considering it was pulled out of the switch, there's an easy way to fix it. Open the switch in the ceiling fan and remove the broken piece of chain before replacing it with a longer i. If your switch is completely broken, purchase a replacement at a local hardware store before removing the one-time one and installing the new switch. Brand sure yous turn the ability source off earlier taking apart the ceiling fan to be safe.

1. one

   Plow the power off at the circuit billow for condom. Locate your circuit breaker, likely either in the basement, a closet, or even exterior the house. Open up the circuit breaker and turn the power off for the room where yous'll be working with the ceiling fan to make sure electricity isn't notwithstanding flowing when you're removing the fan's parts.^[one]

   • If you're not certain which switch is for the room with the ceiling fan, turn off the chief power merely to be safe.

2. 2

   Remove the light bulbs to forestall them from breaking. Fix up a ladder or step stool if necessary to reach the ceiling fan hands. Unscrew the low-cal bulbs carefully and place them on a towel nearby. If the ceiling fan has any sconces or globes, remove these as well past unscrewing them or using a screwdriver to remove any screws.^[ii]

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3. 3

   Utilise a screwdriver to remove the screws holding the light fixture in place. The ceiling fan's fixture, or the main housing where the wiring is stored, volition be held together with a few visible screws. Apply a screwdriver to take out these screws, loosening the fixture to run into the wiring and switch.^[3]

   • Ready the screws and detachable fixture piece aside in a safe place to reattach them after.

4. 4

   Unscrew the nut on the side of the fixture that holds the switch. Expect on the outside of the fixture for a small-scale nut. Unscrew this nut to remove information technology completely, letting you lot access the ceiling fan pull chain switch. Set the nut aside for safekeeping.^[4]

5. v

   Pull out the switch to inspect the chain more closely. Now that the switch is loosened from the fixture, look at it up close. If the wiring of the switch is broken, supervene upon it completely. Leverage the switch open using a screwdriver to see if the concatenation just needs to exist replaced with a longer piece, or if it would exist best to get a new switch all together.^[5]

   • If the chain looks replaceable, utilize a longer length of chain you already have to prepare it instead of purchasing some other 1.
   • If the switch looks broken, visit a local hardware store to buy a replacement.

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1. 1

   Pop open the switch using a small screwdriver. Leverage open up the tabs along the switch using a screwdriver. Once y'all divide it into its 2 pieces, the things inside of it, like the chain and jump, will be visible. With the switch open up, remove it from the wiring past pulling the wires out from the switch.^[6]

   • Exist careful not to lose any of the pieces when yous pop the switch open.
   • If you don't come across the spring and chain, pop off the protective plate holding them within the switch.

2. 2

   Remove the broken slice of chain from the mechanism. Remove the contents of the switch, including the broken piece of concatenation connected to a disc and the spring. All of the contents inside the switch will exist loose, making information technology easy to simply take them out. Pop the broken chain off of the disc using a screwdriver. Discard the broken concatenation after you've removed it.^[7]

3. 3

   Put a longer piece of chain in the old concatenation's spot. Just every bit you removed the short cleaved chain, pop a longer chain that will attain through the fixture into place in the onetime chain's spot. Snap the longer chain into the disc where the broken chain was using your fingers.^[8]

4. 4

   Reassemble the switch by putting the concatenation and jump dorsum into place. Put the jump and concatenation fastened to the disc back into the switch. Pull the chain through the hole in the switch so yous can pull on information technology easily. If you lot popped off a protective plate that holds everything together, press this back into place also.^[9]

   • Hold down the bound and chain mechanism using your finger or a screwdriver so it doesn't pop up while you're attaching the 2 main switch pieces together.
   • The 2 switch halves will press back into each other easily.

5. 5

   Place the switch back inside the fixture and reattach the switch nut. Put the switch back in the wires merely equally you took it out. Make sure yous identify the switch next to the spot where y'all unscrewed the nut from the exterior of the fixture. Screw the nut back into place to concord the switch.^[10]

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1. 1

   Purchase a replacement switch at your local dwelling house improvement store. Either take a film of your old switch so you know which i to buy, or disassemble the old switch and take it with you. Expect for a "fan lite switch" or something labeled similarly.^[eleven]

   • Ask an employee at the home improvement or hardware store for help if yous're not sure which switch to buy.

2. ii

   Disconnect the wires attached to the old switch. Pulling or twisting off the connectors that agree together the wires volition disconnect them from the onetime switch. Remove each wire that's attached to the sometime switch by pulling off the connectors, and take the quondam switch out.^[12]

   • Take a pic of which wires are connected to the switch before disassembling it to reference the moving picture when putting it back together.

3. iii

   Strip 0.5–0.75 in (1.three–1.9 cm) of insulation off of the wires to attach them. Use a wire stripper to strip the insulation off of the ends of the wires attached to the new switch, cut into the insulation with the stripper earlier pulling it towards the end of the wire to remove it. This will allow the electrical connectedness to pass through the wires.^[xiii]

4. 4

   Twist the wires together and cover them with connectors. Locate the quondam wires that your new wires will attach to and twist them together tightly using a clockwise motion. Many wires are color-coded, making it easy to match the correct wires together. Cover the bare wire with a twist-on connector, making sure the entire bare wire is covered.^[14]

   • Refer to the picture you lot took of the wires the old switch connected to, if needed.
   • Twist-on connectors are likewise called wire nuts and can be found at your local hardware store.

5. 5

   Put the new switch into the fan housing to reattach the nut on the outside. Since you removed the small nut on the exterior of the fixture that holds the switch in place earlier, it's time to reattach it. Hold the switch inside the fixture, and screw the nut back on to the exterior of the fixture to hold the switch in place.^[15]

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1. ane

   Hold the fixture over the wiring and screw it back into identify. With your switch replaced, place the part of the fixture that you removed back into place on height of the wiring. Agree it steady and apply the screws to spiral information technology back in using a screwdriver.^[16]

   • Enquire someone to hold the fixture in identify while you spiral the screws back in, if desired.

2. 2

   Put the lightbulbs back into the fixture if needed. If you removed whatsoever globes or sconces that went around the bulbs, reattach these beginning either past twisting them back on or using a screwdriver to reinstall the screws. Pick up the lightbulbs and carefully twist each one back into identify in the fixture.^[17]

3. 3

   Turn the power back on through the billow. Return to the circuit billow and flip the switch that turns back on the power. If your excursion breaker isn't labeled, make sure you turned the right ability back on by testing the light switch in the ceiling fan room.^[xviii]

4. 4

   Test the pull chain to see if it works. Flip the ability switch in the room if necessary to turn the fan on. Now that your ceiling fan pull chain switch is fully installed, pull on it gently to see if it works. If the lights come on or the fan starts to rotate, it'southward all fixed.^[19]

   • Avoid pulling on the chain using a lot of strength because this is oft how it breaks.

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Add together New Question

• Question

  If the chain just came off in my hand practise I accept to purchase a new switch or can I just put the chain dorsum on?

  

  This happened to me 3 days ago. I had to buy a new 3-speed ceiling fan switch as the chain that broke will Not go back in the switch. You'll demand a big paper prune to get the wires in the concluding as per the directions that came with the one I bought from Lowe'south.

• Question

  How do I know if the fan switch is working?

  

  Yous will need a ability tester with a lite. Cheque each terminal for power with the switch on and off -- if it lights up when you plow the switch on, it is a skilful switch.

• Question

  We desire to connect a iii-speed wall switch to supercede the chain-pull switch on our ceiling fan. At some point there was a switch for a light, which was removed. There are 4 blackness wires inside the wall with wire nuts on them. The new three-speed switch has 2 black wires. How can we tell what we are supposed to connect?

  

  2 of the wires were for the light and ii for the fan. You will need a voltage tester light to see which ones are power, unless two or three of the blackness wires are wired together, then those would be the power and the other black wires would be for the fan or light.

• Question

  My pull concatenation is threaded through the threaded stock that holds the light cover on, where is the switch? How do I get to it?

  

  First, turn off the billow or fuse for this electrical area. Remove the calorie-free cover. Expect for screws that hold the light plate in. Keep one manus below the plate and concur onto it as you unscrew the screws. Mitt the screws to someone, or drop into a pants' pocket. The unit you are looking for will be inside the housing.

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Things You'll Need

• Ladder
• Screwdriver

• New chain

• Wire stripper
• Replacement switch
• Twist-on connectors

Thanks for submitting a tip for review!

• Disconnect the electricity past turning off the power earlier treatment the ceiling fan.

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About This Article

Commodity Summary X

To replace a ceiling fan pull switch, you'll need to remove the old switch, disassemble the wires, and attach a new switch straight to the terminals. To first, turn off the excursion billow that leads to your fan, so y'all don't adventure electrocuting yourself. Then, remove the cover on the fan and unscrew the nut on the exterior of the pull switch, then you lot can pull it out. Make sure you write down the colors of each wire and which terminals they connect to, since you'll need this data later. One time you've removed the pull switch, take it to a home improvement store, and purchase a new one. The new switch should exist identical in size, number of speeds, and wattage, or else it won't be uniform. When you attach the new switch, refer to your notes so you lot tin connect the colored wires to the appropriate terminals. Once they're fastened, screw the basics back in, supercede the fan cover, and flip the excursion billow dorsum on. To learn how to attach a new switch using wire nuts, read on!

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Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Replace-a-Ceiling-Fan-Pull-Chain-Switch

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