jaylectricity
Senior Member
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Occupation
- licensed journeyman electrician
Today I had a customer who was worried about her paddle fan. She had a switch that contained both the fan speed and light dimmer on a single yoke.
At the end of last summer she said she turned the fan on and noticed a spark in the fan. The dimmer still worked fine and the light was ok. So instead of calling an electrician she just stopped using the fan. After all it was the END of the summer.
With (pessimist-spring)(optimist-summer) coming soon she decided she better get it fixed. Normally I ask customers questions like, "When did this start happening" "What changed on that date/time" "Did you have anybody install anything other than electrical" and so on. But with such a long time she would never remember that.
She couldn't get the fan to spark for me after numerous attempts so I started to open up her switches to investigate. The connections were secure but while I was handling the switch I accidentally flicked the fan on and <b>bingo</b> I saw a light flash. But it wasn't in the fan. It was a lamp on her headboard. I flicked the switch on and off a few times and noticed the light would flicker a little to varying degrees each time.
I went over to the lamp to investigate it turned on when I touched it. "Oh, I thought, it's a touch-lamp." I showed her this, she and her husband had a quick brainstorm and realized they had purchased the light at the end of last summer.
Case closed, I put the switches back together and gave them what I thought to be the explanation. I'd like to ask anybody who knows, what you think the explanation is. I'll reveal what I told her after a few posts. I look forward to hearing the mechanics or engineering of this psuedo-phenomena.
At the end of last summer she said she turned the fan on and noticed a spark in the fan. The dimmer still worked fine and the light was ok. So instead of calling an electrician she just stopped using the fan. After all it was the END of the summer.
With (pessimist-spring)(optimist-summer) coming soon she decided she better get it fixed. Normally I ask customers questions like, "When did this start happening" "What changed on that date/time" "Did you have anybody install anything other than electrical" and so on. But with such a long time she would never remember that.
She couldn't get the fan to spark for me after numerous attempts so I started to open up her switches to investigate. The connections were secure but while I was handling the switch I accidentally flicked the fan on and <b>bingo</b> I saw a light flash. But it wasn't in the fan. It was a lamp on her headboard. I flicked the switch on and off a few times and noticed the light would flicker a little to varying degrees each time.
I went over to the lamp to investigate it turned on when I touched it. "Oh, I thought, it's a touch-lamp." I showed her this, she and her husband had a quick brainstorm and realized they had purchased the light at the end of last summer.
Case closed, I put the switches back together and gave them what I thought to be the explanation. I'd like to ask anybody who knows, what you think the explanation is. I'll reveal what I told her after a few posts. I look forward to hearing the mechanics or engineering of this psuedo-phenomena.
