Well yesterday this became everything I expected it to be. One. Big. ClusterF@ck.
Got a late start around noon cause I had to take the 14 year old to soccer field he’s a referee for little kids league. I was figuring about 2 hours then maybe get in a short afternoon ride. Yeah no.
Grab all the tools and get the old vent fan out of the ceiling without too much trouble. I was even able to maneuver the canister and pull it down through. My original plan worst case was to tuck it into the attic space for future removable which really means never.
Took some wrangling to get the electrical line out of the clip but I carefully pulled everything back and took pictures of the existing wiring just in case I needed a reference.
Good news was this fan was added by us about 18 years ago so this line is NOT aluminum wiring. Other good news is that it’s clearly vented to the roof cause I got hit in the face with this partial roof shingle
Coming down the vent as I was disconnecting it.
Time check. About 12:45pm.
Now I crack open the box to the new fan and it immediately goes downhill.
The dimensions being a bit off where there was a gap in the Sheetrock was not unexpected. The real issue was that I could not orient the box in the ceiling to match
The previous setup. No problem I thought. I will just route the vent to the other side.
Then I looked and the new box doesn’t have a spot for the ground wire like the old one so I took it to the garage and used a sheet metal screw to make a hole. Very proud of myself.
Got everything wired up and in place (or so I thought ) and realized I slightly miscalculated the spot for the ground wire outside the cover. Oh well no big deal.
Now I go to attach the duct to the cone and tape it nicely in place. But now I can’t position it in the box. After 2 attempts I realize the tail end of the cone it basically
Flush against the joist. FML.
Can’t rotate the box cause the electric run has no slack. FML.
After sitting and thinking about it for 10 minutes I realize I have no choice but to extend the electric line so I can rotate the can in the ceiling to accommodate the duct attachment. (Insert several explicit words here ). This means I need to go back to the store and get supplies. Plus I needed a way to make up the gap between the sides of the box and the sheet rock since once I turn it 90 degrees the gaps are wider. 😡🤬😡🤬
Time check. 1:45pm.
Trip #2 to Lowe’s which takes me like almost an hour round trip cause of stupid people and traffic. At least the guy at Lowe’s had electrical experience (shocker) and helped me confirm my idea was legit and within code. If this was aluminum wiring I was totally screwed though I did see Aluminum to copper connector thingys but I would have never been able to sleep at night if I didn’t have a qualified electrician to do that.
Got back like 2:45. I was starving for lunch until the dog threw up on the carpet. Then she needed to go for a walk. Now it’s like 3:30.
Got the wiring and junction box in place without too much trouble. Number of times
I have done this before. Zero. Thanks YouTube.
Rewired everything again and got everything back in place. Flip the switch to text the fan. Tripped the breaker. FML 🤬😡
Not sure now if it’s my wiring job or something else. I should have noted the wiring instructions were complete crap. Then after 5 minutes of staring at it I was defeated and texted
@Patrick desperate for help.
Time check 4:45pm
Another 10 minutes of staring at it and comparing the old wiring and I realized the instructions didn’t call out the ground wire which I mistakenly attached to the black. Oops.
Fixed that and attached the fan. Success!!
Stuffed some insulation along the gaps of the Sheetrock and used foil tape seal everything off because I new the size of the light mount would hide everything.
Connected the Light bracket and LED light and flipped the switch. Success !!!
I only had a single switch for both before this so I was fine with the same setup and I didn’t want the extra work of figuring it out either. Good thing cause dinner was ready.
Time check. 5:55.
What did I learn:
1. I should have measured better.
2. plan for it to not fit due to existing connections
3. Next time hire
@Patrick so I don’t bother him during his date night!
I added the rest of the pics below this only lets me add 10 per posting.
On to the next project - sanding and restaining the deck.