Bathroom Exhaust Fan Wiring

djberry55

I'm attempting to install a bathroom exhaust fan where none currently exists. I have a single switch which controls a light fixture in the bathroom. My plan was to add a 2nd switch to control the bathroom fan, independent of the light fixture. When I pulled out the light fixture switch to look at the wiring I found there were 3 sets of Romex going to the switch. All three grounds were tied together, as well as all the neutral wires. Two of the black wires were pigtailed together and attached to one side of the switch and the other black wire was attached to the other side. As best as I can tell, the light switch doesn't control any other outlets/lights. Any insight as to why this may be wired this way and what I would do to wire a 2nd switch off this?

SCharter

This sounds exactly like how my bathroom lighting was wired; the hot that was pigtailed to the hot going to the switch I discovered running to the switch for the hall light. So I'm willing to bet that you've got a similar thing happening; that pigtailed hot lead is supplying power to another switch somewhere.

In my project, I bought a stacked dual switch unit that would fit into the single box and ran a new line from the switch to the light/fan I was adding. To wire the switch, the supply was wired to one side of the switch, and the line feeding the existing light on the other side on the bottom switch, and the new fixture on that same side for the top switch. So I had all black wires at the switch, all whites tied together in the box, and because the house is old, there were no grounds to deal with. Hope this helps, best of luck with your project!

sublime2

Basically, who ever wired the house used the switch box as a junction box.
Pigtail added to supply power to the light.
As for adding a switch,will have to remove current box and put a double gang in.

HARRY304E

Cool avatar...

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