Help! Fan wiring question .....

[MilDoc]

I'm putting up a new ceiling fan as the old one kicked the bucket. Got the old one down no problems.

Wires from the ceiling = black, red, white, bare. I assume the first 2 are power, the 3rd neutral, and the bare one ground. The BLACK wire is not hot at all, the RED is hot when the wall switch is on.

New fan instructions say connect black to black, white to white, green to bare. But I assume I would connect fan black to ceiling red, then white to white, green to bare.

So, do just cap off the apparent dead black ceiling wire? Sorry, I didn't pay attention to or if it was connected to the old fan (dumb mistake).

[Rand]

It sounds like it was wired originally to accomodate 2 switches. Maybe they were thinking someone would want a combination fan/light to be switched independently.

I see reason you can't cap off the dead black wire and hook the black wire from the new fan to the red switched wire. I'd be curious to see if there is an unconnected black wire in the box holding the wallswitch though.

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed electrician. I don't even play one on TV.

[RAFlorida]

As Rand wrote, just cap off the black. It was probably

for a fan/light combo. At the switch, it is only a single device correct?

[MilDoc]

Yep, only a single device at the switch.

Wired the fan black/blue to the red and all works well. Capped the black.