Exhaust fan wiring

[jjamison]

New bathroom has vanity light and exhaust vent/light/heater combo unit.
There are three rocker switches in this order.
a) One switch for vanity light. Two black wires.
b) One switch for exhaust vent and light. They turn on together. Two black wires and one red.
c) One switch heater. Two black wires.
I would very much like to convert “b” to a stacker switch such that I can turn on the vent light without turning on the vent.
Does it sound like I will be able to do so with the wiring I have?

 

[Jadnashua]

If I understand what you have, there are actually four switchable things, but two of them are tied together:
- vanity lights
- combination of
------ vent fan
------ vent light
- heater

With three switches, you can control three of these, but if you want to control a fourth thing separately, you'd need a fourth switch.

Now, you could combine the vent light and the vanity lights together by determining which lead is providing power to the vent light and moving it to the switched side of the vanity light switch if you wished.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Stuff]

Yes, you should be able to change the b switch to a dual. Most likely one of the two black wires is the hot feed and then black/red to light/vent.

Something like this:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-...ole-Dual-Switch-White-R62-05634-0WS/100356887
Look at the second picture: The hot feed would go to one of the two "commons" and then the light and vent connections go to A1 and B1.