Quick question about bath light/vent

arichard21 · 01-26-2008, 06:19 PM

I am volunteering at a Habitat for Humanity house, and today ran into a minor issue.

Origionally, the bath was just wired for a light, and it was wired up on a switch loop. Then, they decided to put in a vent/light combo in its place, so I just replaced the single switch with a double switch and ran another wire for the second switch loop. I ran into one problem... I now have 3 cables and only 2 spaces for them to go into the vent/light. Not only that, but there are WAAAAY too many wires to fit in there.

How else can I rewire this using 14/3 from the switch up to the unit?

Jim Port · 01-26-2008, 07:21 PM

Even using the 14-3 as a switch loop the built-in junction bow would be very crowded. It is better to take the power to the switch first so you only have a minimum of wires at the fan unit.

If there really is no other way. Run the 14-3 down to the switch. The white in the new cable will bring the power down to the switches. The black and red will be the switched hots back up to the fan and light. Re-mark the white in the 14-3 at both ends with a black magic marker so people do not think it is a neutral. Add 2 short pigtails to the incoming power at the switches, 1 will feed each new switch. The other side of the switch will be either the new black or the new red. Connect all the bare grounds together and to the switches, and to the box if it is metal.