Red wire on 3 way tripping breaker

reinsman

I replaced a ceiling fan/light combination. Two wall switches controlled the original light without issue. From the switch I had a ground (bare), a white (neutral) and a black and red (hot) wire. I connected, from the fan/light, the green to ground, white to white, black to black, and blue to red. The fan wold work fine but when I turned the light switch on it would trip the breaker. I switched an paired the black to red and blue to black and when I turned on the fan it would trip the breaker. So both time the red wire connection caused the breaker to trip. I disconnected the red from all fan/light wires and put a wire nut on it so it wasn't risking connecting with metal anywhere in the fixture. I connected both the blue and the black on the fan/light to the black wire from the switch and now the fan/light both work off the switch but when I turn on the stubbed off red switch the breaker trips. I can safely assume that there is something askew with the red wire and would like to look at how to fix that. Is this something as easy as checking the red wire at both the switch and within the ceiling mount or will I need to get an electrician in to run a new red wire?

frenchelectrican

Was it working fine with both switch on old fan ?

If so then something happend when you install the new fan in there did you check the conductors to make sure there is no nicks or pintched points that what can cause the breaker to trip.

Also check the switch box as well to make sure nothing is out of the line as well.

Did you use the long wood screw that it came with the ceiling fan ??

If so you may I just say may hit the cable but hold on that part for a minuite until you get the fan off and look at any nicks or damages.

Merci.
Marc

reinsman

It was working fine with the old fan/light. When I switched the light/fan connections from blue/red black/black to blue/black black/red I used electrical tape around the connectors to make sure there wasn't something strange going on there. I didn't use the wood screws, I attached the mount to the existing box with some smaller screws that attached directly into the box. I suppose there is a chance that the red wire was long enough to get caught between the new mount and the outlet box. I will check that. It's not a huge burden to have them both run on the one switch other than if someone inadvertently turns on the switch with the red wire it will trip the breaker. I have that marked now with electrical tape but that kind of looks ugly and I really would like to have the light and fan run off separate switches.

frenchelectrican

Ok we are going somewhere now and did you look at the switch box to make sure nothing is out of the line which I mean like bare conductor is not touching red conductor etc etc somecase you may get lucky at the switch box if that slove the issue then you are good to go with it.

Just remember to turn off the power before you " dive " in the switch box.

Merci.
Marc

reinsman

no I didn't check the switch because it was working fine and I didn't do anything inside the switch. I haven't had the chance to check inside the outlet box yet because I switched out two more fans with new ones in two other rooms wired the same way and had no issues with those. I plan on turning the power off and checking inside the outlet to make sure the red wire is free from any pinching and maybe running electrical tape around all that I can get out just to be safe. I will do that and flip the breaker, turn the switch on and see if that solves it. If it doesn't I will check at the switch and make sure nothing goofy is going on their, and if both of those fail it is probably time to replace the red wire. Is that as easy as disconnecting the red wire from both sides and getting a new wire and pull it through from the switch box into the ceiling outlet? I know that is not exactly easy to do and could potentially screw up some of the other connections but the directions are straight forward I think. Any bkm on how to connect a new wire to the existing one to fish it through the wall so it doesn't come apart while pulling it through some likely tight holes in the framing?