curious switch issue


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Old 09-02-18, 09:33 AM
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curious switch issue

My mom said the light switch in her bedroom does not work and It no longer controls the table lamps. It is a single pole switch with a red and black wire. the ceiling fan light was off at the fan, once on, the switch controls the light of the fan. The receptacles by the table lamps are always hot and the tab that can separate the top from the bottom is still there. Is it possible a wire came loose or something and therefor the receptacles are no longer controlled by the switch and the receptacles are hot all the time?
 
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Old 09-02-18, 10:10 AM
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Mom said the switch is not working but if it controls the light on the fan...... it is working.

It sounds like the switch function was changed from operating the receptacles to operating the light on the fan. Really kind of silly to control both but we have seen that. A missing jumper would cause something to be dead.

Are you sure the switch shouldn't just control the fan ?
 
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Old 09-02-18, 11:28 AM
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Today was the first I looked into it. There is no unaccounted for wires in the box with the switch. Mom swears that she did not change the wiring. But she also swears the switch controlled the table lamps.
 
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Old 09-02-18, 11:41 AM
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Someone must have connected the ceiling fan into that switched circuit.
Is the fan newly installed ?
 
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Old 09-02-18, 12:07 PM
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Nothing new since she bought the house 4 years ago. If I wire came loose how would the receptacles be hot?
 
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Old 09-02-18, 12:48 PM
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So the ceiling fan was there when she bought the house?
 
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Old 09-02-18, 03:02 PM
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Yes, no electrical changes. I think I know what happened, but mom is ready to hire an electrician. i said lets ask here.
 
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Old 09-02-18, 03:46 PM
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Ok..... so what happened ? Electrical mouse ?
 
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Old 09-02-18, 05:12 PM
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I think the switch only ever controlled the fan light. but my boys pulled the chain on the fan turning off the light at the fan. The receptacles being always hot, because who would wire the whole receptacle to a switch in the bedroom, you could not have and alarm clock even.
 
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Old 09-02-18, 07:16 PM
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Hmmmmm...... logic would say that the receptacle if switched should be half hot and half switched. That is not always the case. The split method requires extra wiring that some electricians aren't bothered to run. I've seen many homes with one completely switched receptacle.

Now..... maybe that was wired as a split receptacle and changed by accident or converted to always live to just control the fan light.

The only way to know for sure is to look at the wiring at the switch, the receptacle and the fan. We know there is at least a three wire cable at the switch. More than likely there is a two wire cable there too.
 
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Old 09-03-18, 04:16 AM
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I think Pete's on the right track. Steve
 
 

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