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Good afternoon folks. - we have a spare bedroom that has an overhead fan with a light. Both fan and light are on one wall switch and pull chains on the fixture itself. We are in the process of updating the bedroom so I wanted to replace the one wall switch with a toggle switch for the light and a 3 position fan switch. I removed the existing switch and box and discovered that there is less than 4" between studs in this particular situation - in other words I am not going to get a 2 gang box in there.
Things I've considered
1. Turn the 2 gang box sideways so the standard toggle switch operated horizontally - still not enough room for the box
2. somehow carve a 1/4" pocket in each stud - not sure the old box flip wings would still operate. I could probably screw the box to the studs. The whole things sounds messy.
3. Use a single gang box in the existing position for the light switch and add a second single gang box 4" or so up from that box for the fan switch. I drew out the wiring and it would seem to work. There would be a 3 wire cable between the two boxes, a 2 wire cable as the source into the first box and a 3 wire cable from the second box to the fixture. In the first box I would jumper the black source to the red 3 wire between boxes and also to the light switch. The second box would act as a pass through for the two black wires from each of the 3 wire cables.
Am I nuts or is option three reasonable? Any other options? I want to minimize dry wall work
Thanks
Rick
Rick
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(01-09-2023, 03:33 PM)Rick_B Wrote: Good afternoon folks. - we have a spare bedroom that has an overhead fan with a light. Both fan and light are on one wall switch and pull chains on the fixture itself. We are in the process of updating the bedroom so I wanted to replace the one wall switch with a toggle switch for the light and a 3 position fan switch. I removed the existing switch and box and discovered that there is less than 4" between studs in this particular situation - in other words I am not going to get a 2 gang box in there.
Things I've considered
1. Turn the 2 gang box sideways so the standard toggle switch operated horizontally - still not enough room for the box
2. somehow carve a 1/4" pocket in each stud - not sure the old box flip wings would still operate. I could probably screw the box to the studs. The whole things sounds messy.
3. Use a single gang box in the existing position for the light switch and add a second single gang box 4" or so up from that box for the fan switch. I drew out the wiring and it would seem to work. There would be a 3 wire cable between the two boxes, a 2 wire cable as the source into the first box and a 3 wire cable from the second box to the fixture. In the first box I would jumper the black source to the red 3 wire between boxes and also to the light switch. The second box would act as a pass through for the two black wires from each of the 3 wire cables.
Am I nuts or is option three reasonable? Any other options? I want to minimize dry wall work
Thanks
Rick
How about something like
THIS , there are different brands of these but this saves a lot of work and no drywall issues. Roly
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Put the fan switch in a separate box above the light switch. It's simple and Intuitive to use that way.
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You can buy remote control units that get wired into the fan housing
like this.
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(01-09-2023, 05:26 PM)Roly Wrote:
How about something like THIS , there are different brands of these but this saves a lot of work and no drywall issues. Roly
Thanks Roly - that looks like just the ticket. If I'm reading it right the operation is wireless so no cable from the switch to the fixture. At first it seemed expensive but a quick look indicates that 15' of 14-3 cable is $25 and the rotary switch for fan speed is $14 so you can get to $50 pretty quick with a standard installation. Plus this old man doesn't need have to crawl around an attic running the cable. I'm going to give ot a try. Thanks again
Rick
Rick
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This is a much better quality and better looking than those “remotes”.
Comes at higher cost though.
https://www.lutron.com/en-US/Products/Pa...rview.aspx
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You'll find that a lot of the newer, nicer fans can't be wired with 2 switches. The fan functions with an electronic module only operated by the included remote control. When I remodeled the house, I installed 2 switches and 3 wire conductors to all the fan boxes. None of the fans I bought could be wired with a 2 switch system.
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If you were to take out/bypass the remote module in the fan I wonder if you might be able to defer to manual controls...So far I am pleased with the remote in ours.
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(01-10-2023, 01:14 PM)brianwelch Wrote: If you were to take out/bypass the remote module in the fan I wonder if you might be able to defer to manual controls...So far I am pleased with the remote in ours.
Apparently you can with some. But the new fans have the dimmer and fan speed control in the same black box. I tried to hack mine. I don't remember the particulars but I couldn't do it.
