Hmm. What to do … and how to do it?

Fifteen or so years ago (pre-365), we had a whole-house- or attic fan installed. Eleven years later we had a second air-conditioning system installed … and that led to insulating the attic. Again.

When the attic had insulation blown in again, we had to decide: did we want to keep the attic fan or cover it and blow insulation over it. We decided to give up the fan and go for the year-round insulation. So for five years, I have stashed the knob for the fan switch so no one could accidently turn on the fan and create havoc in the attic.

Tidying my office in anticipation of hosting our recent visitors, I came across the knob again. What to do?

Option A Remove the switch altogether and put a blank plate in its place (and then stash the switch — and knob — somewhere where a future owner might find it and decide to uncover the fan and use it.
Option B Simply disconnect the switch and “unstash” the knob by putting it back on the switch-on-the-wall.

Either way, I have to disconnect the switch, which means I ought to turn off the breaker controlling power to this switch. With lights and outlets, it’s easy: turn on the light or something plugged in to the outlet and flip breakers until you find the right one. I don’t have this strategy: I can’t turn on the switch. Ahh, another tool!

What my BIL called a “sniffer”: a non-contact voltage detector. $10. Money well-spent to not zap myself. It took several tries — each one requiring a trip up-and-down the stairs — but I finally found the breaker; it’s the one labelled “SMOKE DET.”

Looking back
  1 year ago: “Magic Lily = Surprise Lily = Resurrection Lily”
 2 years ago: “Crape Myrtle shedding bark”
 3 years ago: “Hard to pass up a Monarch…”
 4 years ago: “Keweenaw Waterway Upper Entrance Lighthouse”
 5 years ago: “Parking lot ‘find’”
 6 years ago: “Eastern Pondhawk (male)”
 7 years ago: “An August abstract?”
 8 years ago: “Green River”
 9 years ago: “Silver-spotted skipper”
10 years ago: “Like shooting fish in a barrel!”
11 years ago: “Car-of-the-Month, August”

[ PXL_20220802_203637303S675x9SmCstm :: cell phone ]

[Maggiemae]

That is a dilemma best left to those who know best! And that's not me!

[Mags]

Wow! I wish I had an attic fan. It sucked all the hot air out of our old house so fast - and then we cut on the AC. Glad you didn't get a zap.

[Esther Rosenberg]

Good question !

[Kathy]

Option B, with all the power disconnected to it is the best choice IMHO.

[Thom Mitchell]

@randystreat That’s what I did, once I found the breaker, disconnected the switch and capped the wires: I put the switch back on the wall with the knob back in place. Hmm. I should have capped the switch’s wiring, too. Rookie mistake!

[Thom Mitchell]

@randystreat Update: No rookie mistake — I did cap the switch wires. :)