TWO white wires, wound together, and one black?

You don't know who has tampered with or installed the wires. They may be installed wrong and you can be electrocuted. I have found new houses that passed inspection with the wiring polarity reversed.

Electrical code calls for white to be the negative or "return wire". Black should be the positive or "supply" wire.

So go down to Harbor Freight and purchase a $3 meter that will tell you when the electricity to the fixture is off.

Step One, Disconnect the power supply to the light. Trip the circuit breaker or remove the fuse from the panel that supplies power to the light. You may have to turn off several cirucit breakers before you find the one that controls the fan fixure.

Step 2. After testing to make sure the power is off. Connect all ground wires (white) to each other. If you separate them, you may cause an open circuit at another plug or light fixture and it will stop working.(the wires run from one fixture to the next similiar to a string of christmas lights)

Use a Compression Nut to connect the wires. It looks like a cone and will screw over the ends of the wire. When you are done connecting the wires, no copper wire should be exposed. If copper is exposed, take the compression nut off of the twisted wires and trim them so they will all fit inside the compression nut.

When done, gently tug on one of the wires to make sure you have a good connection. If the wire comes loose connect them again.

Step 3 Connect the black wire to the black wire using a Compression Nut. Again check to make sure no copper wire is visible outside the compression nut. Gently tug to test the connection.

Step 4 If there is a third wire that is bare copper it is called a neutral and should be attached to the fans metal covering to prevent shock in case the fan motor shorts out. Look for a green screw on the fan and attach the neutral to it.

Sometimes the fan will have a bare wire attached to it instead of a green screw. If it does, attach the bare wire from the fan to the bare copper wires in the ceiling box.

Step 5. neatly fold the wires back into the ceiling box. Put the fan in place, instal screws.

Step 6. Turn on power by replacing fuse or resetting the circuit breaker.

Step 7. Sit under your fan and enjoy the breeze.

Usually white is neutral and black is hot you need a hot and a neutral to run a fan any thing that consumes electricity needs a neutral.Switches just interrupt the flow on or off on the hot leg. This is hard to figure because you have only one black wire the other two you say are wire nutted together. Did you put them together?Did you miss a wire tucked up in thebox? outlet? One possibility the feed is at the switch and the neutral is carried through to the ceiling box but this leaves an extra white in the ceiling box the only possible reason picking up a neutral for something else. My guess incorrect information. As far as the switch leg information with the feed at the ceiling there should be a total of four wires in the ceiling box. The old type of wiring always had a black and white tied together to identify the switch leg. Trying to diagnose this long distance is impossible get an electrician.

First off, if you don't know much about this, then you should probably hire a certified electrician. Electricity is something that is "easy to do" as long as all of the wires have been pulled correctly, and everything is exactly as it should be. But sometimes things are not done correctly. And, even when things are done correctly, there are instances where white is not neutral. At a ceiling fan, for instance, it is possible to use a white wire as the hot going to the switch, or the switched hot coming from the switch. This is done if the hot is first run to the fan. In that case, you just use a standard white/black/ground to run to the switch, and one wire is carrying the load to the switch and the other is carrying the load back.

In your case, if you're not going to hire an electrician, leave the wires as you found them. Don't change anything.

I'm not sure why there would be two white wires and one black wire. Wires today are in groups. There is always a black, white and ground together. (There are also configurations with an additional red, etc). If all you're seeing are white and black, then I'm wondering where the second white wire is coming from, because it doesn't seem to have the black that should be with it...

Close, but no cigar. Seems that the switch is wired in the ceiling box, a common practice in older wiring. The rule was: white to white ,black to black, EXCEPT in a switch. Hook it back up as it was, Unless you have a lot of money to waste. Look at the switch in the wall, and you will discover the color code. Remember that both wires are hot to the switch when it is on, and 1 when it isn't. Turn off the breaker before doing anything.

I agree with silverlock. Something is not right if you have only three wires in the box. A black wire is missing. Are you sure that the missing black wire is not attached to the fan you took down? Maybe it broke off when you took it down?

Be sure to keep the wires the same color coded. Do Not cross the white and black wires.

As far as unwinding them. It does not matter. Just be carefull. 110 voltage can kill you. Make sure your power is off at the breaker, if necessary. If you do make a mistake and cross the wires, when you power on the fixture the breaker will blow.

Just be sure to turn off the power.

Turn off the breaker first and then hook them up the same way as the previous fan was wired. The black wire is the hot and the white wires are neutrals.

Black is hot and white is neutral, normally. Of course the electrician that wired your house may have done something different, especially if there are two white and only one black.

The best advice I could give would be to get a multimeter (about $10 at walmart) and try to determine whether the white or black wire is hot, becuase if they are hooked up backwards, the fan may not work correctly.

hi its seems as in case you obtain the incorrect swap,if it suits attempt connecting the black to black,and white to white,tape off the pink it is going to artwork,if no longer black to black and pink to white,you cant blow something in spite of the shown fact that it may run devoid of switching on,basically be careful and turn of fan fuse swap at mains each and all of the superb John united kingdom I now see your extra suggestion ,your fan won't artwork until eventually you connect the availability to your fan is attached,you need an enduring grant [stay] and a switched grant [stay] and a impartial all 3 cables flow into timer and out of timer 2 connections to the black and white cables.the timer swap ought to be marked L--N--S L =stay incoming N =impartial S =switched stay,---S=White N=black i'm hoping that's that that's sufficient suggestion John united kingdom

yes keep the white together. white wires go to silver terminals and black wires go to brass terminals