How to Wire a Ceiling Fan to a Four-Wire House

Installing a new ceiling fan is a project that any knowledgeable handyman can do. When installing a ceiling fan, it's common to find a black wire, white wire and possibly a ground wire. However, there may be a red wire in the mix as well; this is a second hot wire from the main power panel. For a ceiling fan, the white common wire stays the same. Connect the ceiling fan's black wire to either the black hot wire or the red hot wire.

Screwdriver
Wire cutters
Wire strippers
Plastic twist caps

Instructions

- 1
  Shut off power to the ceiling electrical box at the main panel and open the electrical box. If a light fixture is attached to the box, remove the light fixture with a screw driver and remove the plastic twist caps that hold the fixture wires to the feed wires. Make note of which wires the light fixture was attached to and plan to connect the ceiling fan to the same wires.
- 2
  Attach the ceiling fan mounting bracket per the manufacturer's instructions and hang the fan on the mounting bracket.
- 3
  Connect the white wire of the ceiling fan to the existing white wire splice in the electrical box and add a plastic twist cap. The black wire of the ceiling fan can be connected to either the black wire or the red wire. If the original ceiling fixture was connected to the black wire, connect the ceiling fan's black wire to the existing black wire splice. If the fixture was connected to the red wire, connect the black wire of the ceiling fan to the red wire splice. Place a new plastic twist cap on that splice.
- 4
  Connect the ground wire of the ceiling fan to the existing ground wire splice and add a plastic twist cap.
- 5
  Finish attaching the remaining mounting hardware as instructed by the manufacturer's instructions.
- 6
  Turn the power back on and test the fan's operation.

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