Sweltering summer temps are here, and if you don’t have ceiling fans, you’re either suffering from the heat or from your power bill. Fortunately, installing a ceiling fan is one of the few home wiring jobs that you can do yourself with little experience. You just need to have a light fixture existing in the place where you want to install the ceiling fan. Follow these steps to remove your old light fixture and put a ceiling fan in its place.
Get Your Tools
To install a ceiling fan, you’ll need a screwdriver, a pair of wire cutters/strippers, a tape measure, a step ladder, and a voltage tester.
Prep the Area
Before you begin your fan install, play it safe by cutting off power to the room where you’ll be working. Go to your electrical service panel or breaker box and turn off the breaker that controls the relevant circuit. If your circuits aren’t labeled, you’ll need to map them yourself to figure out which circuit to turn off. Once you have turned off the circuit at the service panel, go to the room where you’ll be working and use the voltage tester to verify that the power is really off.
Uninstall the Light Fixture
With the power safely turned off, you can begin your ceiling fan install by removing the light fixture you’re replacing. Take off the glass bulb cover(s) and unscrew the bulbs. Loosen the screws that hold the light fixture in place. Carefully pull downward on the fixture to expose the wiring connections underneath. Pull the plastic wire nuts off of the connections, and disconnect the bare ends of the wires by untwisting them. You can set the light fixture aside to donate or use elsewhere.
Ensure Adequate Bracing for the New Fan
If you’re replacing a typical, small light fixture with a ceiling fan, you will need to either hang the fan directly from a joist, or, if that’s not convenient, install a fan brace in the ceiling between the joists. With the light fixture out, you can take a look at the situation in your ceiling. If the electrical junction box for your light fixture is fastened to a joist, you can pry it off with a pry bar or remove the screws holding it in place, and then you’ll just attach your new fan-rated junction box to the joist. If there’s no joist running above the hole in your ceiling, you can either move everything over slightly so the fan can be anchored to a joist, or you can install a metal fan brace in the ceiling. Another option, if you can access your ceiling from above, is to install a piece of two-by-four lumber between the joists above the ceiling hole. Anchor it into the joists on either side with one-and-a-half-inch screws.
Install a New Electrical Junction Box
You will need to remove the electrical junction box that was holding up your light fixture and put in one that’s rated for use with ceiling fans. A ceiling fan is too heavy to hang from a light-rated electrical junction box. Buy a fan-rated pancake electrical junction box and make sure it’s anchored to a joist or to a fan brace.
Affix a Ceiling Medallion If You Need One
You might not need to put up a ceiling medallion, but if you have decided to move your fan location to anchor the fan to a joist, you can use a ceiling medallion to cover the old hole. You’ll need to glue the ceiling with urethane glue. You can use a few 6d finishing nails to further secure the ceiling medallion. If you’re going to paint your ceiling medallion, do so before you proceed with the fan installation.
Put Together Your Fan Motor
All ceiling fans, whether small or large room ceiling fans, come with assembly instructions to help you put them together and install them. You will need to attach your fan’s downrod to the top of your fan motor, either with a locking nut or with pins. You’ll also need to feed the wiring for the fan motor up through the downrod. Not all fans have downrods, however – for flush-mount models, you’ll need to attach the fan canopy right to the motor housing instead of putting it at the top of the downrod. If your fan does have a downrod, slide the fan canopy over it before you begin the install.
Install the Ceiling Mounting Plate
The ceiling mounting plate should be fastened to the electrical junction box using the screws provided. Get out your step ladder and bring the fan motor up to the ceiling. You should be able to hang the fan downrod from the ceiling mounting plate in order to free both hands to connect the wiring.
Do the Wiring
To connect the wiring, just match the wires in your fan to the wires in your ceiling. The black wires should be connected to each other, the white wires should be connected to each other, and the green or bare ground wires should be connected to each other. Make sure you connect the house ground wire to the ground screw in the electrical box before you connect it to the fan ground wire. Give that ground screw a couple of turns to keep the wire in place.
Secure the Fan Motor to the Ceiling Mounting Plate
Make sure the fan downrod is secured to the ceiling mounting plate. There is usually a ball on the end of the downrod that goes into a socket in the ceiling mounting plate. Move the canopy up the downrod and screw it in place.
Complete the Finishing Touches
Now you can put the fan blades and light fixture on. Screw the fan blade brackets to the blades and attach the brackets to the fan motor housing. Wire up the fan light fixture using the same principles you applied to wiring up the fan motor. Use your tape measure to make sure the fan blades are all equidistant from the floor. Attach the light fixture bulb covers and put in bulbs. Finally, restore power to the circuit. You should be ready to enjoy your new fan!
