Hanging ceiling fan from blue plastic outlet box

Follow the rules, Chuck, follow the rules. With your luck, the plastic box will break, the fan will fall on someone or something, the wires will snap, short and cause a fire, your wonderful basement remodeling job will be up in smoke (along with the rest of the house) AND (to beat Pop to the punch) your insurance won't pay a dime since the cause of the fire was due to YOUR negligence.

Now, there is a retrofit installation kit available at the boxstores:

and the cost of fixing whatever/whoever happens to be under it at the time

The box is fine for containing the wires but it will not hold the fan. Use some supplimental form of support so the fan is not hanging from the box or change the box to one listed for fan support. You will still have to provide adequate support for the new box. Some fans provide for direct attachment to a framing member, independent of the box.

Plastic boxes can usually be cut out without damaging the ceiling (I have done a couple of times). You need to cut them up in pieces with metal cutters and shear the nails with a hacksaw blade holder. Once you get the old plastic box out of the way, install a wood support or a commercially made fan support through the hole (this is the fun part) before you replace the box with a metal one. The fan supports should anchor in the wood or commercially made support and come right through the electrical box to hold the fan mount.

You'll probably be able to drill a couple of holes right through the bottom of that plastic box, centered on the joist width. Then use two hefty wood screws (say No. 8s) of adequate length to sink into the joist at least 1-1/2" and hold the fan mounting strip/plate up where it belongs. It may take enlarging or drilling a couple of new holes in that part to accomodate those screws. But it'll be a heck of a lot safer than taking a chance on those fine threaded holes in that plastic box.

Make sure you attend to making a proper electrical ground connection to the fan assembly while you're at it.

Good Luck,

Jeff

And this will meet code?

Some of the Hunter instructions actually suggest this and come with very long screws.

Don't try hanging from the plastic. Plastic cold flows and will fail over time. Either replace it or try Jeffs idea.

Chuck, surely you are kidding? Muff

Sure mount it right to the pretty little blue plastic boxes. Come on there are reason for following instructions ,like maybe the manufacturer and the NEC know a little more about the subject. The weight of the fans will cause them to come crashing down and if your lucky nobody will be standing under them. You can chop out the plastic boxes easy enough the replace them with a fasco fan box and support. The differences between a fasco and a regular metal box are thse. 1. a regular metal box has two 8-32 machine screws that only catch at most 3 threads in the box. These screws can pull out or possibly shear off.

1. The fasco box uses 10-32 (maybe 10-24 I forget.) machine screws and extend from the back of the box through the ears and the fan bracket mountsusing these screws with nut and lockwashers. Also if rember right the fasco system is rated for 80# Trust me do it right . Ceiling fans have been known to work themselves loose and find the floor. I think the fasco box and hanger sell for around .00 each.

Bill

Everyone's sure it will fail. Has anyone actually seen one fail where the box was installed securely? I doubt it.

Well unlike some people, I don't need to play in the street to know its dangerous. I don't think anyone is going to brag about it even if they have done it.

I've stripped the screw threads in those plastic boxes with just a hand tool when replacing a fixture, they are brittle and will crack very easy; two of the main environments for life testing of components is thermal cycling and vibration, both of which you are going to get in a ceiling fan installation - as there is no such thing as a perfectly balanced fan. Easy enough for you to recommend him to tempt fate, but I'd put in a metal box and brace the easiest way possible.

Plastic won't hold the fan, IMO plastic boxes are junk. You need to hang the fan from a hanger capable of supporting 35 pounds (I think that's what the code requires). There are special spanners made specifically for hanging fans which are inserted from the ceiling hole and capable of expanding to the joists and wedging themselves against the ceiling joists and there are special boxes for fans. Remember this; if the fan falls an generates a fire do you think the insurance companies will run over to you with a fist full of money? Forget it; they'll try to back out of the deal in a heart beat if they find the job's been jury rigged. Ron

The Fasco box that works best with Hunter fans is the #925. You may have to go to a real electrical supply distributor to find them as I have never seen them in the box stores. Good luck.

Joe

Thanks for the advice! I bought a couple of those retro-fit braces and will try to make sense of them tomorrow.

Chuck

I have seen where the plastic piece that the mounting screw goes into break free from the box. This has happened in electrical outlets, and light switches. If it can happen there, it can happen in the ceiling.

--Mike

Or, use a hole saw and saw a 7/8" hole in the back of the box and install one of those type lag screws through the box and into the floor above. It is usually plywood or hardwood of some kind. Don't go through into the upstairs. This lag bolt -- bought at fixture stores -- has a lag on one end and a regular screw thread on the other -- maybe 10-24 or 1/4-20. Use a thread extension nut to turn it into the floor above with a socket and extension with a ratchet. Then just add a piece of threaded rod to get this supporting device down through the box and long enough to support the brace for the fan. The plastic box is OK for the wiring.

Negligence is one of the main reasons to have a homeowner's policy and far from being excluded, many of the claims paid out are for negligence. For example, hitting golf balls in your yard and whacking one into the neighbors window. Or leaving out a rake that someone trips over and gets injured. Those are negligence and homeowner policies will pay the claim.

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Wow, talk about painting apples and oranges the same color! Is there any verifiable evidence that what you say is a FACT? Your implication is that non-code wiring which causes a fire WILL BE reimbursable by the insurance company. I think you need to be REAL careful of the advice you give!