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I recently purchased a ceiling fan - Harbor Breeze Tilghman WITHOUT a light - to replace a ceiling fan WITH a light. The wires coming from the (old)ceiling are red, black, white, green, and copper. The green wire is coming from the ceiling mounting bracket. I do know the light worked on the previous fan before replacement, but the fan motor had long burned out. On the new fan, the wires are white, blue, and black; with the green ground wire from the downrod.
The old fan connected to one switch, which turned on both the fan and light, then we could use the pull chains to turn either/or off as desired.
I have tried multiple wiring combinations and still the fan does not work. What wiring combinations do you suggest - aside from the obvious white-white, black-black, and green to green, I'm not sure if I need to connect the red (from the ceiling) or the blue (from the fan - since we don't have a light on this fan) to anything or to simply leave the alone and wrapped in electrical tape. Any suggestions??

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    How was it connected previously? You should connect the new fan exactly as the old one was connected, except that you won't have to connect the blue wire (since that's for the light kit, that doesn't exist).
    – Tester101
    Jul 23, 2014 at 11:12
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    Nothing says "dangerous amateur" louder than finding wires wrapped in electrical tape. Use wire nuts.
    – Eric Lippert
    Oct 21, 2014 at 18:24

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Absolutely do not leave the wires alone wrapped in electrical tape. Electrical tape does not have enough longevity to safely protect the exposed leads and can create a hazard in the future.

The blue wire exists to support the future addition of a light. The polite thing to do for your future self or future owner of your home would be to connect the blue and red wires. However, it is not necessary; if you do not want to, you can cap both leads with wire nuts.

Note that it is also legitimate to connect the black on the fan to the red from the ceiling, and the blue on the fan to the black from the ceiling. Assuming you have two switches, that will swap which switch controls the fan and which switch controls the light.

If the existing black-black connection doesn't work, you can try the black-red. If that does work, it would suggest that the switch for the fan has failed, although it could also indicate other wiring problems.

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Green to green, white to white.

Assuming you have a two gang switch (two switches at wall, only one used). Blue and Black from fan connected either to the red or black wire from wall. Other wire needs to be wire capped. The black wire from the fan is the hot for the fan motor, the blue is for an optional light kit.

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The wires from the ceiling box are probably a "hot" wire (black), a neutral wire (white), a ground wire (copper), and a switched-hot (red)(see description here).

On the fan you probably have a neutral (white), a "hot" lead for the motor and a "hot" lead for the light that is not there (blue & black). Most fans can be equipped with light kits so they have a wire for it.

So... Hook black (or red if you want to control it from the wall switch) from the ceiling to the black and the blue on the fan (since we do not know which one is for the motor and which is for the light). Hook white to white Hook all greens to the copper.

You will need to have the wall switch turned on to operate the unit if you use the red wire. Cap all unused wires. Please never work on live electrical equipment and use an electrical tester to confirm all wiring assumptions.

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Green to copper and green Red and black to blue and black White to white

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    -1 This doesn't add anything not covered by the existing answers.
    – BMitch ♦
    Aug 15, 2015 at 19:08

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