Daughter and I were working in the kitchen the other day, and she complained that she was hot. It was getting warm, so I decided to turn on the ceiling fan that is part of the kitchen light fixture. I asked Daughter to pull the chain. The first time she pulled the wrong chain, turning off the light. She turned it back on, and then pulled the other chain. Nothing happened. I noticed a switch up on the fan, so I got the step stool and flipped the switch. I tried various combinations of flipping the switch and pulling the chain, but didn't have any luck. Finally, I gave up.
A little while later we left to go to the store. I turned off the kitchen light at the wall switch. When we came home, the fan was on. I still haven't figured out the secret of controlling it, so I still can't predict when it's going to be on and when it will be off. We haven't touched the chain since I gave up on it. All I know is that it is very weird....
4 comments:
I'm an empiricist so I must ask: when you flipped the kitchen switch again, upon your return, did the fan go OFF? If yes, the wall switch is the ON for the fan and the light when the switches on the fan itself are also in the ON position). Or at least that's my guess.
Sue
Nope. I just went and double checked, since the fan was on and the light was off. To complicate things, there are two wall switches for the light-- one on either end of the kitchen. I just experimented with turning the light on and off from both switches, and the fan continued to work. The fan has been off since then, but I don't remember the circumstances. I will keep experimenting and watching for patterns. Weirdness....
It was clearly the work of a poltergeist.
Or, if your ceiling fan is like mine, the pull chain controls the speed at which the blades turn and the wall switch turns it on and off. To complicate matters further, depending on how many times one pulls the chain it will also reverse the direction in which the blades turn. I have noticed that too many tugs on the chain in quick succession appears to put it in the fan equivalent of neutral on a car's transmission. At this point it needs to be left alone to think things over. Invariably, it is turning when I check on it later.
I like the poltergeist explanation. It's easier to understand....
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