DIY problem: fan/light combo

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

Me and my shiela want to install combined light/fan fixtures in our new house. I’ve watched a lot of how to videos on youtube and they talk about joining the fan wire to the fan and the light wire to the light.

This is a new house and there are lighting wires hanging from the ceiling, but no fixtures as such, just a wire coming out of the ceiling with a light bulb cup and bulb on the end. As there is currently no fan there, am I going to be able to fit a combined light/fan combo unit without running a new wire up there? I understand I will have to fit an electrical box in the ceiling which can support the weight of the fan. That’s not a problem. I don’t want to pull the wire out, run a new one or two and then replaster over the new wires.

My question is, can a combined fan/light fixture be run off a single wire that is intended for the light only? The fan unit will be remote control. The switch on the wall could just be used to power the unit, and then the remote control used to turn the fan on or off. In my mind it seems possible, but I’m not very well educated or confident w.r.t. electrics in the home.

Any help greatly appreciated.

2

If this is a new house, the building company will normally offer you an “extra” service to fit ceilings (a sort of plywood construction that encloses all the ugly concrete and ducting) and light fixtures. Yes, ceilings and lights are an extra in Taiwan. If you choose this service, they will almost certainly be able to fix your fans for you for some nominal charge, or maybe for free if you’re good at talking. That’s the way we got ours done, anyway.

As for switching on and off, the fan switch is normally a pullcord hanging from the fan, and you just connect the whole lot to the lighting supply - in your case it sounds like the remote receiver is inside the fan itself, so yes, there is still only one wire to the fan/light unit.

If you’re “not very confident with electrics” don’t attempt this by yourself. It’s just not worth it in Taiwan when you can pay someone a couple of hundred NT$ to do it (more-or-less) right, and there are no second chances if you get it wrong.