My Hampton Bay Ceiling Fan Lights Won't Shut Off

The light switch inside a Hampton Bay ceiling fan is made of plastic and can break with repeated use. Pulling on the chain too hard places stress on the mechanism inside the switch and causes the switch to stop turning the light on or off. Once the switch breaks, the light will remain off or on, depending upon whether the light was off or on when the switch broke. Replacing the switch will allow you to finally turn off the Hampton Bay ceiling fan light.

Step 1

Turn off the circuit breaker at the main breaker box that supplies electricity to your Hampton Bay ceiling fan. Attempt to turn the fan motor on at the wall switch and pull the motor chain on the fan. The fan won’t come on if you have turned off the correct breaker.

Step 2

Remove the three or four screws holding the light kit to the switch housing at the bottom of the ceiling fan. Pull the light kit off the switch housing to expose the wiring connecting the switch housing to the light kit.

Step 3

Pull apart the quick-connect wire connectors holding the two white wires together and the blue wire from the ceiling fan to the black wire from the light kit. The quick-connect wire connectors allow you to plug the wires together with the help of the plastic, tube-like terminals on each end of the wires. Untwist the wire connectors holding the two sets of wires together if your Hampton Bay fan does not come equipped with the quick-connect wire connectors.

Step 4

Move the light kit to a sturdy work surface. Untwist the retainer nut on the bottom of the light kit. The light kit pull-chain threads through this nut. Removing the nut also releases the two-wire pull-chain switch.

Step 5

Disconnect the original pull chain switch by untwisting the connector holding the remaining black wire from the switch to the light sockets on the light kit. The other black wire was disconnected when you pulled the wiring apart to release the light kit.

Step 6

Cut the black wire with the plastic quick-connect connector off the plastic pull chain switch with wire cutters. Make the cut as close as you can get to the original switch as possible. Strip at least 3/4 inch of insulation off the end of the wire that does not have the connector connected to it with wire strippers. Connect this wire to one of the black wires from the replacement pull-chain switch by twisting an wire connector onto the two wires. This step is not necessary if your ceiling fan does not come equipped with these connectors.

Step 7

Attach one of the black wires from the pull-chain switch to the black wires on the light kit that attach to the light sockets. Use the wire connector you removed from the wires previously when disconnecting the original switch.

Step 8

Thread the chain from the replacement pull-chain switch through the circular opening in the light kit. Secure the switch to the light kit with the retaining nut you removed from the original light kit.

Step 9

Reconnect the light kit to the Hampton Bay ceiling fan by attaching the blue wire from the fan to the remaining black wire from the light kit pull-chain switch. Reconnect the white wire from the fan to the white wire from the light kit.

Step 10

Insert the light kit into the switch housing. Secure the light kit to the fan using the screws you previously removed.

Step 11

Turn on the ceiling fan circuit breaker at the main breaker box. Turn on the wall switch that operates the ceiling fan.