How To Repair A Pull Chain On A Ceiling Fan

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If your ceiling fan pull chain is broken because it was pulled out of the switch, there's an piece of cake way to fix it. Open upwards the switch in the ceiling fan and remove the broken piece of chain before replacing it with a longer ane. If your switch is completely cleaved, purchase a replacement at a local hardware store before removing the erstwhile ane and installing the new switch. Brand sure you turn the power source off earlier taking apart the ceiling fan to exist condom.

1
Turn the power off at the circuit breaker for safe. Locate your circuit billow, likely either in the basement, a closet, or fifty-fifty outside the business firm. Open the circuit billow and turn the power off for the room where you'll be working with the ceiling fan to brand sure electricity isn't still flowing when yous're removing the fan's parts.^[1]
- If y'all're not sure which switch is for the room with the ceiling fan, turn off the principal power only to be safety.
2

Remove the light bulbs to prevent them from breaking. Set upwardly a ladder or stride stool if necessary to reach the ceiling fan easily. Unscrew the light bulbs carefully and place them on a towel nearby. If the ceiling fan has any sconces or globes, remove these likewise by unscrewing them or using a screwdriver to remove any screws.^[two]

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iii
Use a screwdriver to remove the screws belongings the lite fixture in place. The ceiling fan's fixture, or the primary housing where the wiring is stored, will be held together with a few visible screws. Use a screwdriver to take out these screws, loosening the fixture to encounter the wiring and switch.^[iii]
- Set the screws and detachable fixture piece aside in a prophylactic identify to reattach them later.
4

Unscrew the nut on the side of the fixture that holds the switch. Expect on the exterior of the fixture for a small nut. Unscrew this nut to remove information technology completely, letting you access the ceiling fan pull chain switch. Fix the nut bated for safekeeping.^[iv]
5
Pull out the switch to audit the chain more closely. At present that the switch is loosened from the fixture, await at it up shut. If the wiring of the switch is broken, replace it completely. Leverage the switch open using a screwdriver to see if the chain just needs to be replaced with a longer piece, or if it would be all-time to get a new switch all together.^[5]
- If the chain looks replaceable, employ a longer length of chain you already have to set information technology instead of purchasing another one.
- If the switch looks broken, visit a local hardware shop to buy a replacement.
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1
Pop open the switch using a pocket-sized screwdriver. Leverage open up the tabs forth the switch using a screwdriver. One time you lot separate it into its 2 pieces, the things inside of it, like the chain and bound, will be visible. With the switch open, remove information technology from the wiring by pulling the wires out from the switch.^[half-dozen]
- Be careful not to lose any of the pieces when you pop the switch open.
- If you lot don't meet the spring and chain, pop off the protective plate belongings them inside the switch.
2

Remove the broken slice of chain from the mechanism. Remove the contents of the switch, including the broken slice of chain connected to a disc and the spring. All of the contents inside the switch volition be loose, making it easy to simply take them out. Pop the broken concatenation off of the disc using a screwdriver. Discard the cleaved concatenation after yous've removed it.^[7]
3

Put a longer piece of concatenation in the one-time chain's spot. Just as you removed the curt cleaved concatenation, popular a longer chain that will reach through the fixture into place in the old chain's spot. Snap the longer chain into the disc where the broken chain was using your fingers.^[8]
4
Reassemble the switch by putting the chain and spring back into place. Put the jump and chain attached to the disc back into the switch. Pull the chain through the hole in the switch and so you can pull on information technology easily. If you lot popped off a protective plate that holds everything together, press this back into place also.^[9]
- Hold down the spring and chain mechanism using your finger or a screwdriver so it doesn't popular up while yous're attaching the 2 main switch pieces together.
- The 2 switch halves will press back into each other easily.
v

Identify the switch back inside the fixture and reattach the switch nut. Put the switch back in the wires just every bit you took it out. Make sure you place the switch adjacent to the spot where you unscrewed the nut from the exterior of the fixture. Screw the nut back into place to agree the switch.^[10]

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ane
Purchase a replacement switch at your local home comeback store. Either have a movie of your sometime switch and then you know which one to buy, or disassemble the old switch and take it with you. Wait for a "fan calorie-free switch" or something labeled similarly.^[11]
- Ask an employee at the abode improvement or hardware store for assist if you're non certain which switch to buy.
2
Disconnect the wires fastened to the sometime switch. Pulling or twisting off the connectors that hold together the wires will disconnect them from the old switch. Remove each wire that's fastened to the old switch by pulling off the connectors, and take the former switch out.^[12]
- Have a motion picture of which wires are connected to the switch before disassembling it to reference the picture when putting it back together.
3

Strip 0.5–0.75 in (1.3–1.9 cm) of insulation off of the wires to attach them. Use a wire stripper to strip the insulation off of the ends of the wires attached to the new switch, cut into the insulation with the stripper before pulling it towards the terminate of the wire to remove it. This will allow the electrical connection to pass through the wires.^[thirteen]
4
Twist the wires together and embrace them with connectors. Locate the old wires that your new wires will attach to and twist them together tightly using a clockwise motion. Many wires are color-coded, making it easy to match the correct wires together. Cover the blank wire with a twist-on connector, making sure the entire bare wire is covered.^[14]
- Refer to the picture you took of the wires the old switch connected to, if needed.
- Twist-on connectors are as well called wire nuts and can exist found at your local hardware store.
v

Put the new switch into the fan housing to reattach the nut on the outside. Since you removed the minor nut on the outside of the fixture that holds the switch in place earlier, it's time to reattach it. Hold the switch inside the fixture, and screw the nut dorsum on to the outside of the fixture to hold the switch in place.^[15]

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1
Concur the fixture over the wiring and screw information technology dorsum into place. With your switch replaced, place the part of the fixture that you removed back into place on superlative of the wiring. Hold it steady and use the screws to screw it back in using a screwdriver.^[xvi]
- Ask someone to concur the fixture in place while you spiral the screws back in, if desired.
two

Put the lightbulbs back into the fixture if needed. If you removed any globes or sconces that went around the bulbs, reattach these first either by twisting them back on or using a screwdriver to reinstall the screws. Pick up the lightbulbs and carefully twist each one back into identify in the fixture.^[17]
3

Turn the power back on through the breaker. Render to the circuit breaker and flip the switch that turns back on the power. If your circuit breaker isn't labeled, make certain you turned the right power dorsum on past testing the light switch in the ceiling fan room.^[18]
4
Exam the pull concatenation to see if it works. Flip the power switch in the room if necessary to turn the fan on. At present that your ceiling fan pull chain switch is fully installed, pull on it gently to see if information technology works. If the lights come up on or the fan starts to rotate, it's all fixed.^[19]
- Avert pulling on the chain using a lot of force because this is oftentimes how it breaks.
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Add New Question

Question

If the chain merely came off in my hand exercise I accept to buy a new switch or can I only put the chain back on?

This happened to me 3 days agone. I had to purchase a new 3-speed ceiling fan switch as the chain that broke will Not become back in the switch. You lot'll need a large paper prune to get the wires in the concluding every bit per the directions that came with the one I bought from Lowe'due south.
Question

How do I know if the fan switch is working?

You will need a power tester with a light. Check each last for power with the switch on and off -- if it lights up when you turn the switch on, it is a adept switch.
Question

We want to connect a iii-speed wall switch to supersede the concatenation-pull switch on our ceiling fan. At some betoken there was a switch for a lite, which was removed. At that place are 4 black wires inside the wall with wire nuts on them. The new 3-speed switch has 2 black wires. How can we tell what we are supposed to connect?

ii of the wires were for the light and two for the fan. You will need a voltage tester low-cal to see which ones are power, unless 2 or 3 of the black wires are wired together, so those would exist the power and the other black wires would exist for the fan or low-cal.
Question

My pull chain is threaded through the threaded stock that holds the light cover on, where is the switch? How practice I go to it?

First, plough off the breaker or fuse for this electric area. Remove the calorie-free embrace. Look for screws that concord the calorie-free plate in. Keep i hand below the plate and hold onto it as y'all unscrew the screws. Hand the screws to someone, or driblet into a pants' pocket. The unit of measurement you are looking for volition be inside the housing.

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Things You lot'll Need

Ladder
Screwdriver

New chain

Wire stripper
Replacement switch
Twist-on connectors

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Disconnect the electricity by turning off the power before treatment the ceiling fan.

About This Article

Article Summary Ten

To replace a ceiling fan pull switch, you'll demand to remove the quondam switch, detach the wires, and adhere a new switch directly to the terminals. To outset, turn off the excursion breaker that leads to your fan, so you don't adventure electrocuting yourself. Then, remove the cover on the fan and unscrew the nut on the outside of the pull switch, so you can pull information technology out. Make certain you write downwardly the colors of each wire and which terminals they connect to, since you lot'll need this information subsequently. Once y'all've removed the pull switch, take it to a home improvement store, and purchase a new ane. The new switch should be identical in size, number of speeds, and wattage, or else information technology won't be compatible. When y'all attach the new switch, refer to your notes so you can connect the colored wires to the appropriate terminals. In one case they're attached, screw the basics back in, replace the fan encompass, and flip the circuit breaker back on. To learn how to adhere a new switch using wire basics, read on!

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