[Sag]

Hello All -

My ceiling fan getting tripped, to find which wire is fault i did the below test scenarios. In all these scenarios i kept all ground wires (Two green wires from bracket and Fan circuit & Copper wire from Ceiling) are connected together.

1) All hot wires (Black), Neutral (White) wires connected - (Actual connection) -- Tripped

2) Hot (Black) wires removed, neutral (White) wires kept connected -- Tripped

3) Neutral (White) wires removed, Hot (Black) wires kept connected -- Worked/not tripped

For further investigation, On advise of some google searches

1) Removed both hot and neutral connections, connected the neutral (white) wire coming from Ceiling to the ground wire(s) - Tripped

2) Removed both hot and neutral connections, connected the neutral (white) wire coming from Fan circuit to the ground wire(s) - Worked/not tripped

Please advise can i ignore the neutral wire from ceilinng. instead of connecting both neutral wires can i connect the neutral wire of fan circuit to ground wire(s).

Thanks

 

[daveb1]

Is this the same fan you were working on last December?https://www.diychatroom.com/f18/ceiling-fan-wiring-getting-tripped-circuit-breaker-675007/

 

[Sag]

Yes It is the same fan, I left it on DEC as it was winter, now checking again. this time i just removed remote connections. Directly fan to Ceiling.

 

[Datawise]

Take some pictures and lets see what is going on. Wire colours don't necessarily mean anything in these situations.

Cheers
John

 

[joed]

Are you certain all the white wires are neutrals? One of them could be part of a switch loop and a hot wire.

 

[Sag]

Hi -
@joed I am sure white wires are neutrals.

 

[Sag]

@Datawise

This is from Fan, Blue - Hotwire of Light, Black - hot wire of Fan, White - Neutral, Green - Ground wires from Bracket and Fan

 

[Sag]

@Datawise

This is from Ceiling, Black -Hot, red - Hot (Not using capped), White - Neutral, Bare Copper - Ground

 

[diyorpay]

White to White
Black to Black (fan)
Blue to Red (light)

This assumes 2 switches, one for fan, one for light.
Without a remote, no fan speed control, fan reverse, no light dimming. Pull chains will work. If room in wall for two gangs of switches, nicer fan control can be used. Nicer light dimmer can be used.

If one wall switch only, twist fan black and blue together and connect to ceiling black. Black at wall switch used. Red isn't used at ceiling or wall switch. Red and black are 2 separate feeds of power to ceiling.

 

[Sag]

I did the connections exactly as mentioned when connecting white - white it getting tripped even the wall switch is OFF.

 

[surferdude2]

Is the breaker a GFCI type?

 

[Datawise]

Is that the only wire in the box?

Cheers
John

 

[surferdude2]

The reason I asked if it was a GFCI type breaker that was tripping is that a neutral to ground short can and often will trip a breaker or receptacle of that type.

That sort of fits what you are describing. I'd guess you have a ground fault on the neutral inside the fan, perhaps winding to core or the neutral lead wire to core.

That would explain why the breaker didn't trip when you connected the black wire (the wall switch was off). It would have tripped if you energized it by turning the wall switch on.

It tripped when you connected the white wire (never gets switched off) with no other wires connected you say. Not so, the ground wire was connected.

There is always a small amount of voltage on the neutral of a typical system that's operating neutral dependant loads. If you short that small voltage to ground on the load side of a GFCI, it can create an asymmetrical current flow through the CT of the GFCI and cause it to trip.

It would depend on the loads connected to the system and quality of the complete ground system as to whether there is enough voltage on the neutral to create the necessary .03 amps +- to trip a GFCI. I suspect most systems will have enough.