3-way switch light conundrum

Amateur2021 · Jun 19, 2021

Hi, really stumped here. I went to replace an overhead light with a ceiling fan/light combo and got it working, but then the rest of the room didn't have power.

The fixture has power to it and then goes to a 3-way switch. In the photo, the middle black is hot and the right one is not...the white wire on the left seems to come back from the switch. It seems like the hot should go to the switch and then come back, but I appear to be missing a wire for that. What am I doing wrong? Any advice is greatly appreciated so my wife can have cool air!

Megawatt · Jun 23, 2021

Amateur2021 said:
Hi, really stumped here. I went to replace an overhead light with a ceiling fan/light combo and got it working, but then the rest of the room didn't have power.

The fixture has power to it and then goes to a 3-way switch. In the photo, the middle black is hot and the right one is not...the white wire on the left seems to come back from the switch. It seems like the hot should go to the switch and then come back, but I appear to be missing a wire for that. What am I doing wrong? Any advice is greatly appreciated so my wife can have cool air!

I’m sure that the white wire you are referring to is probably the other switch wire. Electricians are terrible about using the white as a hot wire but it should be taped black to identify as a current carrying conductor. Let’s hope you took a picture of the wiring before you took it apart

Amateur2021 · Jun 26, 2021

Megawatt said:
I’m sure that the white wire you are referring to is probably the other switch wire. Electricians are terrible about using the white as a hot wire but it should be taped black to identify as a current carrying conductor. Let’s hope you took a picture of the wiring before you took it apart

You nailed it. Got it all put back together and it's all working great. Thanks so much for the help.