Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Wiring a two gang switch box for a ceiling fan / light combination


1. Mount a two gang device box on the stud, at about 48" above the floor, to the top of the box

2. Secure a ceiling fan rated box to the joist,rafters, or trusses. ( add framing as needed to secure box directly to lumber

3 Pull 14-2 wire from a 15 amp circuit, to the two gang box you have just finished putting on the wall

4. Pull a 14-3 wire from the two gang box to the ceiling fan box you have added

5. Expose all of the inner conductors from a 1/4" of the boxes integeral clamp, to expose six inches of free conductor in each location

6. Strip the ends of all conductors, to expose 1/2" bare copper on all wires

7. At ceiling fan box, attach Black to black, white to white, red to blue, and bare to green

8. At the two gang box you will tie all of the white wires together under one wire nut (tan)

9. You will need to make two six inch pieces of black wire, strip both ends. then tie one end of each piece together with the black wire that comes out of the 14-2 (power in)

10. Tie all of the bare conductors together with two 6" tails (intended to land one on each switch, under the green screw)

11. Land the black wire from the 14-3 ( from ceiling) to a brass screw on one of the switches. Then land one of the powered pig tails on the remaining brass screw of the switch

12. The remaining red wire will land on one of the brass screws, and the remaining black (power pig tail) will land on the last brass screw.

13. install all switches , and the fan on the ceiling

14. Attach the 14-2 intended to power up your project to a powered outlet on a 15 amp circuit, matching colors as well

Wiring a thermostat for a 120v space heater

It is crucial for your 120v heater, that there is 120v from black to white! Not 220v
L1 and T1 pass through when there is a demand for heat
L2 and T2 pass through when there is a demand for heat


A house wired prior to 2008 would have the white wire , wire-nutted through even if it was 220v heater system; Where a house wired after 2008 the white wire would have landed on the L2 and again on the T2

If the supply voltage is 120v; Then you only need the L1-T1 side of the thermostat and the L2 and T2 wires are not needed

With the current code the 220v system is required to break all of the line wires.
220v systems that used baseboard heaters did not require a neutral wire; Instead the white wire carries 120v to ground and the black wire also carries 120v to ground. Across each other they measure 210-240v
(A 120v heater should not be used in this situation)

L1 being black (powered wire) and L2 being white (powered side)
The black of the (heater wire) T1 and the white of the (heater wire)

This method will work on the 120v heater as well but is not required. On a 120v heater the thermostat only needs L1(black powered wire) and T1 (Black heater wire)

The white wires can be wire-nutted together and stuffed in the back of the box

3 Wire method

If there is a red, black , white, and ground in the box; This would be a three wire system.

The black wire will be 120v to ground,  the red will be 120v to ground, and the white will be a return path. From black to red will be 220v

Use the black powered wire as L1 and the black of the heater wire as T1. Tie the white of the powered wire directly to the white of the heater wire,
In this situation the thermostat only separates and connects the power wires together when there is a demand for heat.