Connecting a ceiling fan to an existing ceiling electrical box generally involves three connections: A black wire that carries the electrical current, a white ``neutral'' wire and a bare . The grounding wire doesn't normally carry electricity. Its function is only to direct the current back into the circuit in cases of electrical surges. All modern ceiling fan units will provide a green grounding screw to receive the grounding wire.
Instructions
1. Turn off the power at the house fuse box, so the circuit you're working on is dead. Remove the existing ceiling fixture by unscrewing it from the ceiling electrical box and disconnecting the wiring. Generally, there will be three wires coming from the box: one insulated white, one insulated black and one grounding wire. All three should be left hanging out of the box after you remove the fixture.
2. Install the mounting bracket from your ceiling fan kit to the electrical box. Pull the three wires down through the bracket so they're still hanging.
3. Bring your fan unit up the ladder, and position it near the box. Attach the insulated wires from the fan to the same colored insulated wires from the house (black to black, white to white), twisting wire nuts over the connections.
4. Pull down the bare copper grounding wire form the box. Locate the green grounding screw on the ceiling fan unit or the bracket that you installed (the position of the screw varies). Use your pliers to bend the end of the copper wire into a small hook, just big enough to go around the stem of the green screw.
5. Hook the bare copper grounding wire around the green grounding screw. Tighten the screw, fixing the wire in place.
6. Mount the fan unit to the bracket, tucking all the wiring into the box as you do. Turn the power on.
Tags: grounding wire, , bare copper grounding, , copper grounding wire