How To Put Ceiling Fan

Whether you want to replace a light fixture with a ceiling fan or replace an existing fan, a new ceiling fan can be an affordable and cost-effective home upgrade.

You don’t need to hire an electrician to install your new ceiling fan, either, as long as your home wiring is up-to-date and you already have a fan or light fixture in the spot where you want to install the new fan. Follow these steps to put in a ceiling fan yourself.

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Turn Off the Circuit

Before you start doing work of any kind on your home’s wiring, you need to make sure you’ve turned off the circuit you’ll be working on.

Go to your breaker box and turn off the circuit in the room where you’ll be working. Then go to the room and test the lights or use a voltage tester to test an outlet. You want to make sure that you’ve turned off the right breaker and that the power is really off.

Remove the Old Fixture

Now it’s time to take down the old light fixture or fan. If you’re removing an old ceiling fan, it’s best to take it down one piece at a time, rather than having to handle a large, unwieldy, and heavy fan all at once.

Remove the blades, then take off the light fixture if it’s large. Then you can lower the canopy and disconnect the download from the ceiling mounting plate. Remove the ceiling mounting plate, too. Your new fan will come with its own.

Removing most light fixtures isn’t that hard. Take off the glass cover, remove the light bulbs, and then undo the screws securing the light fixture to the mounting plate or electrical box.

Pull down the fixture to reveal the wiring connections, and disconnect them. Make sure you take down the mounting plate, too.

Prepare the Ceiling for a New Fan

If you’re replacing an older fan, you probably won’t need to install a fan-rated electrical box and mounting bracket in the ceiling – but you should make sure they’re both there before you proceed.

Ceiling fans are heavy, hence the need for a fan-rated electrical box and mounting bracket.

A mounting bracket should fit between the joists on either side of your ceiling fan. Expanding metal braces are available for this purpose, or you can install a piece of two-by-four lumber in between the joists, securing it with 1.5-inch screws.

If a ceiling joist runs directly above where you want to hang the fan, you can secure your fan-rated electrical box and the fan itself directly to the joist.

Otherwise, install a fan brace and attach the fan-rated electrical box to the fan brace. Pull the wiring in your ceiling down into the electrical box.

Put the Fan Motor Together

Many modern ceiling fans have a download, but you can also buy modern ceiling fans that flush mount to the ceiling. Either way, follow your fan’s assembly instructions to put the fan motor together and attach the download or canopy.

Install the Fan Motor

Before you can install the fan motor, you’ll need to secure the ceiling mounting plate to the fan-rated electrical box.

Then you can wire up the fan motor and secure it to the mounting plate. There will usually be a hook on the mounting plate that allows you to hang the fan motor to one side while you connect the wiring.

You should have three wires coming out of your ceiling: a black one, a white one, and a green or bare one. The fan motor should have three matching wires coming out of it.

The wiring connections should match, so the black wire in your fan motor connects to the black wire in your ceiling, and so forth.

Twist the bare ends of the wires together, then screw a wire nut over the connection. Once all the wires are connected, tuck them back into the electrical box and mount the fan motor to the ceiling mounting plate according to your fan’s instructions.

Attach the Light Fixture and Fan Blades

With the fan motor in place, all you need to do is connect the light fixture, if there is one, and attach the fan blades. If the light fixture has loose wiring connections, connect them the same way you connected the fan motor to the ceiling.

However, some light fixtures will just plug into the fan motor. Blades should be attached one at a time and balanced so that they’re all the same distance from the floor. If you have problems balancing your blades, you can buy a balancing kit for your fan.

Once the blades and light fixture are attached, you can restore power to the circuit and give your new fan a whirl. Enjoy your new home upgrade!

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