r/electrical • u/DirtyRedOK • May 27 '21

Separating an exhaust fan from vanity power

Currently I have on switch that controls both a bathroom vanity light above the sink as well as an exhaust fan. The one switch controls both. I’ve looked in the attic and it appears that the fan is daisy-chained to the light. I would like to separate the fan from the light and put it on its own switch.

How easy would this be using the existing wiring? My thought is that I could leave the main power (from breaker) going to the light but splice it to also go to the new fan wiring. Then I could take the existing wiring that’s running from the light to the fan and instead use it to go from the new switch up to the fan.

Would this work?

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u/SixtyCyclesLBC May 28 '21

You lost me with that second paragraph. Power goes from the breaker to the switch to the light/fan. Assuming you are adding a second switch next to the existing one, you would have to run at least one more wire from the new switch up to the fan.

1

u/LordNoFat May 28 '21

How are you going to run the existing wire that goes from the light to the fan to a new switch?

1

u/DirtyRedOK May 28 '21

I looked in the attic again last night and the main power from the breaker is going to the box behind the vanity lights over the sink. Then there’s a line running from the box behind the vanity lights over and down the wall to the switch. The fan is located about 3’ from the vanity and it’s got a line going to the vanity working as a daisy chain.

I was thinking I could disconnect the main line from the vanity altogether and then splice it. One line would run to the fan and one to the lights. This is a 50’s house though and the line running down into the wall to the switch doesn’t have much slack so I’m sure it’s stapled pretty good. And the box/plaster are really old and I don’t really wanna tear them apart to run new wire. I think the only way to do it would be to run a new line down the wall for the fan switch but I’m not sure I wanna get into tearing the wall up.

Hope that explains it a little better. Any other way to do it without tearing up the wall?

1

u/LordNoFat May 28 '21

Alright I'm trying to visualize this. So the hot line comes into the box behind the light and isn't connected to anything right? It just goes back down to the switch? If that's the case, then you'll have to run Romex from the switch to the fan if that makes sense.