Any electricians in here? (1 Viewer)

[Dan Whalen]

I've got a problem with the ceiling fan/light in our living room. A few weeks ago I flipped the switch off, but the light stayed on. I flipped it on and off about six times before it finally went off. It only did it occasionally. Then it started doing it when I tried to turn the light on (not comming on unless I flipped it a few times). Now the light won't come on at all. What would be the most likely culprit; the switch, the wiring, or the light? I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but a couple of months ago, we had a really (and I mean REALLY) close lightning strike. It made everything in the house flicker, then come back on. The light never did this before the lightning. Any thoughts?

Dan

 

[GeorgeTW]

I have previously found schematics on the Internet for wiring ceiling fans, so I entered some key words into a search engine (Google.com) and came up with many hits.
'light switch wiring'.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...=Google+Search
I also put 'ceiling fan install' into Google and got this
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...=Google+Search
I Love Google.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I'd replace it with a known good bulb first, and if that doesn't work, go out and buy a new switch. It probably just went bad on you. They are easy to change, BUT DON'T FORGET TO CUT THE JUICE FIRST!

Not doing that could result in a very shocking experience!
Glenn

 

[Tim Kilbride]

It seems that the switch would be the first place I would look...

TimK

 

[Kevin P]

Is it a regular (mechanical) light switch or an electronic and/or dimmer switch? If it's electronic it's probably going bad. If it's a regular mechanical switch, I'm stumped as these usually either work or they don't (as in the light won't go on at all). But faulty wiring or a short somewhere could cause problems like you describe.

Also, is it a 3 way switch (two switches controlling the same light)?

KJP

 

[Blake R]

I would shut off the breaker feeding that branch circuit and then bypass the switch/fan control by nutting together the hot and the switchleg in the outlet box containing the fan control. Turn your breaker back on and see if the fan is operating normally. Toggle the breaker several times and observe the fan operation. Or just replace the switch and conduct the same experiment by toggling the switch instead of the breaker. If it's still flakey your fan wiring may be bad.

Be careful.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Sounds like a defective switch to me.