[Joeywhat]

Can someone help me understand what's going on in this ceiling box?

I'm swapping a ceiling fan in my spare bedroom. There are 4 NM cables going into the ceiling box, see the attached for how they are currently wired (I THINK I have the fan shown as how it was wired, it's old and the mount sucked so I didn't have a good chance to look at it before ripping the wires off so I could set the fan down). Note that neutral is green in the drawing (all grounds are tied together & to the box).

I'm not understanding the neutral wire situation here. Why do I have neutrals from several different cables wired to the hots? There is one switch for this room, it has a single cable running to it, black to one side of the switch, white to the other. That switch controls the ceiling fan, that's it. No idea where the other cables in the ceiling go, there are two spare bedrooms and one bathroom on this circuit. There are a few outlets in the room as well, not switched.

Any thoughts? I have to replace the box and cut back some of the wiring (insulation is cracked), so I have to completely take apart the wiring to make those changes. Was just curious as to why this is wired like this before putting everything back how it was.

 

[seharper]

Cables 2-3 are normally wired.

Cable 4 is the proper switch loop for your fan. The only defect is the white wire needs to be marked with black tape on both ends, and it is not.

Cable 1 is ???? WTH. It appears to have been wired backwards.

The splice to the left of the fan is the neutral group.

The big splice above center is the hot group. The #4 white (once remarked) belongs there.

As near as I can figure, cable 4 just got wired backwards. Somebody was being cutesie. I bet if you stick 3-lamp testers in receptacles on this circuit, you’l find one that will give you a middle yellow, and a red, indicating hot-neutral-reverse. I would just remove cable 1’s white from the hot bundle, and see what loses power.

 

[Joeywhat]

That makes sense, I'll give that a try and see what happens. I'll also track down my plug tester and see what it has to say.

 

[CodeMatters]

Cables 2-3 are normally wired.

Cable 4 is the proper switch loop for your fan. The only defect is the white wire needs to be marked with black tape on both ends, and it is not.

Cable 1 is ???? WTH. It appears to have been wired backwards.

The splice to the left of the fan is the neutral group.

The big splice above center is the hot group. The #4 white (once remarked) belongs there.

As near as I can figure, cable 4 just got wired backwards. Somebody was being cutesie. I bet if you stick 3-lamp testers in receptacles on this circuit, you’l find one that will give you a middle yellow, and a red, indicating hot-neutral-reverse. I would just remove cable 1’s white from the hot bundle, and see what loses power.

My thoughts too, except I think you meant to type cable 1.

 

[surferdude2]

Your tester may not reveal anything wrong... the electrician may have re-identified the misused pair and wired the receptacles or whatever load that #1 cable served properly. Not technically legit to reidentify conductors of that size but so what, it still gets done occasionally.

It's good that you mapped all that out before disconnecting anything... it'd be hard to figure out otherwise.

You could change/fix that if you like but I'd leave well enough alone unless you're really that bored. Swapping it in the ceiling box would mean you would have to find where it went next and swap it there too.

 

[Joeywhat]

Your tester may not reveal anything wrong... the electrician may have re-identified the misused pair and wired the receptacles or whatever load that #1 cable served properly. Not technically legit to reidentify conductors of that size but so what, it still gets done occasionally.

It's good that you mapped all that out before disconnecting anything... it'd be hard to figure out otherwise.

You could change/fix that if you like but I'd leave well enough alone unless you're really that bored. Swapping it in the ceiling box would mean you would have to find where it went next and swap it there too.

Receptacles all test fine, I guess it could be supplying the ceiling fan in the next room over... Not sure, I'm inclined to just leave it I guess.

 

[Joeywhat]

Your tester may not reveal anything wrong... the electrician may have re-identified the misused pair and wired the receptacles or whatever load that #1 cable served properly. Not technically legit to reidentify conductors of that size but so what, it still gets done occasionally.

It's good that you mapped all that out before disconnecting anything... it'd be hard to figure out otherwise.

You could change/fix that if you like but I'd leave well enough alone unless you're really that bored. Swapping it in the ceiling box would mean you would have to find where it went next and swap it there too.

Receptacles all test fine, I guess it could be supplying the ceiling fan in the next room over... Not sure, I'm inclined to just leave it I guess.

Nevermind, it's the bathroom that's wired incorrectly. I'll swap those around in the ceiling and see how things look. That outlet also needs a GFCI anyways (passed inspection with a regular outlet, lol). Not sure if that would still work with hot and neutral swapped.

 

[Joeywhat]

If anyone cares, I finally got around to finishing this up. Swapped cable 1 around and everything still works OK, and the bathroom no longer has a swapped hot/neutral.

Since this one was swapped I figured I would check some other outlets. Turns out my great room ALSO has H/N swapped... Luckily I'll be pulling the walls off that room soon enough and rewiring everything so that will hopefully be an easy fix then.

 

[surferdude2]

That's what I like to hear.

I gave you the easy way out and you didn't take it. :wink2:

I like your style! You can work on my crew anytime.

 

[Joeywhat]

That's what I like to hear.

I gave you the easy way out and you didn't take it. :wink2:

I like your style! You can work on my crew anytime.

:vs_laugh:

It would've driven me up a wall if I didn't fix it. Plus, since I was swapping the boxes and had the wiring all removed anyways why not make it right?