I am having an issue with a ceiling fan and I’m not sure if I should call an electrician or just a handyman to fix the problem. This fan has a light and both are controlled by one switch. Of course the light and fan each have their own chains. I turned the light on today and it came on and went out repeatedly. I confirmed the bulb is not blown and the fan turns on normally. The catch is that if I hit the wall by the switch the light will briefly come on then go back off.
My first thought it that this is a faulty wall switch. But, it seems like a switch problem would also cause the fan to not operate as well. I’m wondering if hitting the wall and having the light blink is indicative of anything in particular. I don’t know anything about electrical wiring and want to make sure I call the right person. I assume a wall switch can be handled by a handyman but if it’s something more complicated I’ll call an electrician to make sure my house doesn’t burn down. Can anyone give me an idea of where to start given the information above?
It could be as simple as a faulty bulb with a filament that is open circuit and even the slightest room vibration causes it to reconnect. So, for a buck or so, change the bulb first.
Could be that the wiring of the light receptacle at the base of the fan may have come loose. Turn off the switch (power to the fan and light), remove the light recepticle from the bottom of the fan and check the wiring for any loose wires.
OK. It sounds like a very simple intermittent connection somewhere. Any handyman would be able to deduce what the problem is.
The breaker should be turned off before attempting to fix. Really, you could do this yourself. Turn the fan on. Turn the breaker off. Confirm that it’s off by the fan no longer turning.
Remove the switch faceplate. Remove the switch from the box by unscrewing the top and bottom screws. Inspect for loose or damaged connections. Reinstall.
Are we talking a momentary break in the circuit, or is the light off for an extended period? A quick break is going to be a lot more noticeable in a lightbulb than a fan. I’d say a quick break power triggered by hitting the wall is most likely a bad switch, or loose connection at the switch. That’s an easy handyman fix.
If the light is off for an extended period, let’s say 10 seconds, and the fan still works, then the problem has to be inside the fan, and not the wall switch. May still just be a loose connection, but it’s a lot more work to get at.
To add to what Leaffan wrote, if the wires are attached to the switch using the holes in the back, rather than with the screws, reconnect them using the screws instead. (This assumes three wires from the switch to the fan.)
[quote=Cheesesteak**If the light is off for an extended period, let’s say 10 seconds, and the fan still works, then the problem has to be inside the fan, and not the wall switch. May still just be a loose connection, but it’s a lot more work to get at.[/quote]
If there are three wires running from the switch to the ceiling fan (black,white,red), the problem could still be at the switch, on the wire that powers the light.
Rethinking this a bit, you may be right. If the switch controls both the light and fan, but there are local switches for each (the pull chains), then the problem lies in the fan/light unit.
For the OP: Turn off the switch, take out the light bulb. At the base of the bulb receptacle is the contact plate for the bulb. Sometimes these are no more than a springy piece of metal. These can become fatigued and become flattened to the point where the bulb makes intermittent contact. First check it for any corrosion and clean off any you find. Then try prying it up just a bit so that it will make firmer contact with the bulb and see if that helps. If that is not the type of contact plate in this fixture, then it is likely that your pull-chain switch has a loose connection or is just failing.
Just to be clear…the light stays off until I tap the switch plate and then it flickers on. Actually adjusting the ceiling fan directly does nothing. Even adjusting the bulb has no effect…it stays off until I tap the switch plate and then only flickers. Seems like a switch problem and i will probably call a handyman first.
a bulb will blink with intermittent power, a fan will keep spinning if the interruptions are very short duration. a faulty wall switch or connections to it could cause this.
bad contacts in the bulb socket, tarnished or loose (bent) could cause a bulb flicker. bad contacts in the bulb switch, tarnished or loose (bent) could cause a bulb flicker.
turn off power at the fuse/breaker before working on this and test to see the power is off at the switch and fan before proceeding.
Nonsense. Once a switch goes bad, there’s no helping it. First they buzz a bit, then they light starts flickering, then next thing you know it’s set your house on fire or slept with your daughter.
yorick73, were there 2 different wires coming from the fan to the switch? That’s what I was wondering - if they had originally wired the installation with separate wires for the fan and the light, so you could control them separately with two switches, but someone got lazy and wired them both with a single switch.
