I assume these three wires are coming to the switch box via from the light/fan unit and the light/fan unit has a box with 5 wires in it, including a white and black from the electric panel, and that the neutral is not routed to your switch box. I think your mistake is assuming that the black wire in the switch box is the hot wire, but it is actually the red or the white. Try switching the wires on your switch so that the red is common, If that doesn't work, try the white as common. Or you might open the box where the fan is, and confirm which of your three wires is connected to the hot black wire.
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Good luck,
Al K
Thanks, I'll switch them around tomorrow and let you know how I make out. Appreciate the response on this!
I don't mean to make light of this situation but assuming you are still alive and have not risked burning your house down there are a few things you should do before you proceed. First, to attempt to wire a switch to three wires without a positive identification of each is very dangerous. There are a couple of ways of verifying the identity of each. The best is to assure the power is off at the main breaker panel. Open the connection box at the fan. If this is not practical (assuming that this would require taking the fan down) then move on to step two. If you can access the box where the fan is connected see if you can identify which wire is the supply voltage and which goes directly to the fan and light. With the power off it is easy to determine with a volt/ohm meter. BUT MAKE CERTAIN THE POWER IS TURNED OFF AT THE MAIN BREAKER PANEL> Then verify your meter by checking with a known hot circuit. A voltage should be revealed when it is working. Then Check each of the wires to ground with the ohm meter. As long as the switches on the fan itself are turned on only the hot wire should show and open circuit. DO NOT USE THE OHM METER WITHOUT VERIFYING EACH WIRE HAS NO LIVE VOLTAGE ON THEM. You will need a suitable ground for one lead of your meter (if the box is metal and has a ground wire attached this will suffice. Once you are certain the power is off determine which wire is not shorted to ground. Hook that wire to the common side of the switch. The other two wires should go to the fan and the light. USE EXTREME Caution whenever working with electricity. It looks the same when it is alive as when it is turned off. But it can be deadly if it is on and you don't know it.
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