DIY Home Improvement Forum banner

Two Ceiling Fans in the same Circuit

3K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  soup66 
#1 ·
I am trying to add another ceiling fan to a circuit in my room addition. There is three-wire romex running from the first three-way switch up to the two ceiling fan boxes and down to the three-way switch at the other end of the room. I want all fans and lights to either be on or off based on the switches. The attached picture shows exactly the wiring I have in place.

At the tip of the red arrow, imagine my second fan box being located. Passing through that box I have an always hot red, and the white and black are both either hot or not depending on switch position. I do not have a neutral wire in the second box. There is also a bare copper ground wire.

Since I have no neutral wire in the second box, can I use the bare copper as the neutral (SAFELY) because the neutral and ground are bonded in the AC panel.

Thanks a bunch for any help you can provide.
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#2 ·
Since I have no neutral wire in the second box, can I use the bare copper as the neutral (SAFELY) because the neutral and ground are bonded in the AC panel.
Not safely or legally. You can't use the uninsulated equipment ground as a current carrying conductor. Plus, you wouldn't have a wire to use as an equipment ground if your bare copper becomes the neutral. The fans would work, but it definately would be a code violation for good reason. You need to pull another run of NM wire and utilize its neutral.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top