Sorry for the length of this message, and if posting here may be inappropriate. But I hope someone can help me. Thanks.
Background:
The light bulbs on my kitchen fan kept blowing, one by one, and eventually none worked, not even those that I KNOW didn't blow. (I had tested them elsewhere, and they worked fine.) At one point I remember pulling on that thin rope that operates the light fixture, and it came right out. It appeared to me that I couldn't "reattach" the rope and so I decided to replace the switch. But before doing that I tested the power at the dimmer switch, and it appeared that the dimmer switch went out, which may have explained the "good" bulbs not working.
So, I replace the light fixture switch. It's a small black switch with two leads. I am pretty sure that I reassambled the fan/lights everything EXACTLY in the reverse order in which I disassembled it. It was pretty straight forward because all the white leads were congregated in one wire connector and all the black leads in the other wire connector. (Question: does it matter if I had reversed the connection of the two leads on the switch that I replaced?)
Then I replaced the dimmer switch (single pole) and connect the three leads coming out of the wall in the EXACT same way in which they were connected to the old dimmer switch. The lights in my kitchen worked, but the lights that lead to the basement and the garage lights DIDN'T work. They are obviously operated by different switches, but they are in the same circuit, apparently. There was no power at these other locations. I checked all the breakers, and they are fine; however, kitchen, basement and garage all use the same circuit breaker.
The leads coming out of the wall in the kitchen are all the same color, so I didn't know what's what (though I could have determined that with a volt-meter, but I wouldn't know how to interpret the results, other than there is juice or there isn't). So I tried all six combinations (i.e. three leads going to three different terminals in the switch).
PROBLEM: Depending on the combination in which I make my connections, I get (1) no lights anywhere, (2) lights only in the kitchen; or (3) lights only in the basement/garage but kitchen switch must be on.
When I remove the switch altogether, I get the same thing if I connect these three leads to each other, leaving one not connected.
I am not sure if I explained my self correctly. Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.
Regards,
Elena Sofia Ricci