1960s Berns Air King Imperial Deluxe Box Fan issues.

[Levi Mevis]

Greetings Everyone, I recently bought from an auction locally from an antique mall that closed its doors near me a 1960s Berns Air King Imperial Deluxe Box Fan that apparently used to belong to a college at one point because it has a sticker on it that says "On loan from the Department of Religion", and the fan at some point in time was rewired with a grounded cord and when that happened someone screwed up the wiring in there and now the Neon Bulb for telling you when the fan is off when the thermostat turns the fan off isn't turning on when the fan is turned off with the thermostat, instead its turning on when the fan is on and turning off when the fan is turned off. Does anyone have any idea how this fan is supposed to be wired up so that the neon bulb is supposed to function as its intended, like a wiring diagram or something?

 

Any info and help with this fan would be appreciated.

 

Picture of the fan below.

 

 

[Tom Zapf]

LEVI DOES THE LIGHT STAY ON ALL THE TIME WHEN THE POWER IS ON?  THERE ARE SOME FANS WHERE THE LIGHT IS NOT LIT WHEN THE FAN IS RUNNING, BUT COMES ON WHEN THE THERMO SHUTS THE FAN OFF...*********HOWEVER THERE ARE OTHERS WHERE THE LIGHTS IS ALWAYS ON, RM HUNTER, BREEZEALL I HAVE NUMEROUS MODELS THAT DO THAT.  THE FIRST NEW FAN MY FAMILY GOT IN 1962 WAS A HUNTER CONVERTIBLE WINDOW FAN AND THE LIGHT WAS ALWAYS ON WHETHER THE THERMO WAS OPEN OR CLOSED . 

IT IS POSSIBLE THERE ISNT ANYTHING WRONG WITH YOURS ...LAKEWOOD LINEAGE FANS HAD THE LIGHT COME ON WHEN THE THERMO CUT THE FAN OFF BUT THE SWITCH WAS ON . I AM TRYING TO REMEMBER IF MY SEARS KENMORE ROLLAIRE DOES THAT OR IS IT ALWAYS ON 

[Levi Mevis]

2 hours ago, Tom Zapf said:

LEVI DOES THE LIGHT STAY ON ALL THE TIME WHEN THE POWER IS ON?  THERE ARE SOME FANS WHERE THE LIGHT IS NOT LIT WHEN THE FAN IS RUNNING, BUT COMES ON WHEN THE THERMO SHUTS THE FAN OFF...*********HOWEVER THERE ARE OTHERS WHERE THE LIGHTS IS ALWAYS ON, RM HUNTER, BREEZEALL I HAVE NUMEROUS MODELS THAT DO THAT.  THE FIRST NEW FAN MY FAMILY GOT IN 1962 WAS A HUNTER CONVERTIBLE WINDOW FAN AND THE LIGHT WAS ALWAYS ON WHETHER THE THERMO WAS OPEN OR CLOSED . 

IT IS POSSIBLE THERE ISNT ANYTHING WRONG WITH YOURS ...LAKEWOOD LINEAGE FANS HAD THE LIGHT COME ON WHEN THE THERMO CUT THE FAN OFF BUT THE SWITCH WAS ON . I AM TRYING TO REMEMBER IF MY SEARS KENMORE ROLLAIRE DOES THAT OR IS IT ALWAYS ON 

The light is on all the time when its on, and then when its off (when its turned off by the thermostat) the light goes out. I just know that most of the fans I've seen that have that pilot lamp for the thermostat I've seen usually turned the light on when the fan was powered on, but was turned off with the thermostat to let the user know the fan still was turned on and could turn on at any moment. I have a Lakewood P20 Deluxe Window Fan that has a pilot light that the light comes on when the fan shuts off with the thermostat. 

[Jerry Van]

I would imagine that the light should be wired across thermostat, or in other words, in parallel with the stat.

[Levi Mevis]

well oddly enough the way this fan has it wired up, it has a spade connector on one lead and is connected to one of the terminals on the pushbutton switch assembly and the other wire was wired to one side of the thermostat switch, (that's the way I wired it up) the previous owners of the fan before I got it, had wired a grounded cord to the fan and wired up the fan so that one of the pilot lamp wire leads was wired to the ground wire lead on the grounded cord...🤨

[Tom Zapf]

OK THERES 2 CHOICES 1) WHEN THE FAN IS POWERED ON BUT NOT RUNNING DUE TO THE TSTAT TURNING IT OFF , THEN THE LIGHT SHOULD BE LIT IN ANY CASE

2) SOME BRANDS HAD THE LIGHT LIT ALL THE TIME THE FAN WAS POWERED UP, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE TSTAT HAD IT RUNNING OR NOT

**THAT YOUR LIGHT GOES OUT WHEN THE TSTAT SHUTS THE FAN OFF (BUT STILL POWER ON) YES THEN I WOULD AGREE SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE WIRING 

VERY ODD

[Levi Mevis]

10 hours ago, Tom Zapf said:

OK THERES 2 CHOICES 1) WHEN THE FAN IS POWERED ON BUT NOT RUNNING DUE TO THE TSTAT TURNING IT OFF , THEN THE LIGHT SHOULD BE LIT IN ANY CASE

2) SOME BRANDS HAD THE LIGHT LIT ALL THE TIME THE FAN WAS POWERED UP, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE TSTAT HAD IT RUNNING OR NOT

**THAT YOUR LIGHT GOES OUT WHEN THE TSTAT SHUTS THE FAN OFF (BUT STILL POWER ON) YES THEN I WOULD AGREE SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE WIRING 

VERY ODD

When I got the fan initially someone at some point in time had wired a grounded cord onto the fan and when they did that they tied the ground wired from the cord to one side of the pilot light, I wonder if perhaps when the fan was rewired at some point in its history it was wired up in a way that it screwed up something with the wiring and the switch?

[Tom Zapf]

HARD TO TELL WITHOUT SEEING IT IN PERSON 

[Levi Mevis]

3 hours ago, Tom Zapf said:

HARD TO TELL WITHOUT SEEING IT IN PERSON 

Yeah, I mean is it possible to damage a Neon Indicator Bulb? Or is it possible that the switch could get damaged with wiring it up wrong but the fan could still work?

[Tom Zapf]

I DONT THINK EITHER ONE COULD GET DAMAGED WITHOUT A SERIOUS SHORT OCCURING BUT THERE IS A "JUMPER" THAT ALLOWS THE BULB TO LIGHT AND MAYBE IT WAS BROKEN OFF AND PUT BACK WRONG? HARD TO TELL WITHOUT SEEING IT 

[Levi Mevis]

On 5/8/2025 at 4:25 PM, Tom Zapf said:

I DONT THINK EITHER ONE COULD GET DAMAGED WITHOUT A SERIOUS SHORT OCCURING BUT THERE IS A "JUMPER" THAT ALLOWS THE BULB TO LIGHT AND MAYBE IT WAS BROKEN OFF AND PUT BACK WRONG? HARD TO TELL WITHOUT SEEING IT 

I'll try and see if I can get the back cover off of the fan and see if I can snap a picture of the inside of the switch compartment and see if there's anything you can see that looks like it might be off with the wiring. 

[Nicholas Denney]

The way it should work is the lamp shows when the fan is switch on but not thermostat on... there should be a contact on the thermostat stack that connects the lamp. 

[Levi Mevis]

On 5/11/2025 at 2:05 AM, Nicholas Denney said:

The way it should work is the lamp shows when the fan is switch on but not thermostat on... there should be a contact on the thermostat stack that connects the lamp. 

ok, I'll have to take a look then.

[Levi Mevis]

Hello Tom, Heres a rough Mock-up drawing of the way the switch, pilot light and thermostat are currently wired up in the fan.

[Levi Mevis]

Update: Its fixed, the neon pilot light I think may have been replaced at some point in time and when it was replaced someone wired it up wrong by connecting one of the leads of the Neon bulb to one of the terminals that wasn't supposed to be used on the switch, and the other side of the neon bulb was wired up to to the Neutral of the motor and power switch and power cord and the other side of the thermostat wire was tied to the other power cord lead, which made it so the neon pilot light stayed on when the fan was on and turned it off when the power was off. Its wired up correctly now, and now it works as it should. 😁