Issue with Junction Box

sweetwaters

Hello,

I am trying to install a ceiling fan. I took down the old light fixture that was there. My issue is that the electrical boxes is not flush with the ceiling, it is a little less that a 1/4 inch showing. If I try to install the ceiling fan it will be uneven. The Electrical boxes is directly under a ceiling joist. I am not sure how to solve this issue.

Thanks

DangerMouse

go to hdwr store and get shorter box.

DM

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sweetwaters

Will a shorter box support the weight of the Fan? Do the boxes at the hardware store give weight requirements?

Thanks

majakdragon

The depth of the box has no bearing on the weight capacity. The problem you may have is how the box is supported in the ceiling. Some junction boxes were only made to support a standard light fixture when they were installed. Since a ceiling fan is much heavier, make sure the mounting screws are long enough (and there is more than one) to support the weight.

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sweetwaters

Thank you... I found a thin metal box that will support up to 70lbs. I just have to take the old one out and replace it with the new one.

Ron6519

Ceiling fans require a special box. You should not use a light fixture box with a fan. The box does not necessarily need to be flush with the ceiling. Most fans have a canopy that has a range of projections it allows.
Ron

majakdragon

Ron, I have installed numerous ceiling fans and always used the box that was originally installed after checking the installation. I have never heard of a "ceiling fan junction box". I always made sure the box was metal and not plastic though.

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sweetwaters

If I connect the mounting bracket to the current box in the ceiling the canopy will not sit flush with the ceiling. There will either be a gap from the canopy to the ceiling around the whole thing or part of it, leaving it uneven.

DangerMouse

the lighter weight of most home fans is easily held by the steel boxes.
however, the larger models i've put in do require some reinforcements and sturdy construction. but they are also made to NOT be mounted to a box, but rather a (usually round, free-swinging) bracket.
in your case, you could always try to find a 'beauty ring' that could make up the difference?

DM

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Ron6519

You might want to do a little research about this. it's been in the electric code for a few years. With the rise of their popularity years ago people were just hanging them with those little screws that you would use to attach the hanger bar to the box. Over time, vibration would loosen the screws and the fans would drop off the ceilings. The new boxes have a "U" bolt that wraps around the top on the box and the fan is attached by bolts with a nylon sleeve so they don't loosen. They have ones for new construction as well as retrofit boxes that fit into the 4" hole and attach by way of telescoping shafts, with prongs, into the joists.
A google will bring you up to date about this.
It's your house, do what you want. All I'm doing is informing you how it should be done, correctly.
Ron

Yoyizit

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Yoyizit

It used to be that fans over 35# need a specially mounted box.

I'd make a round escutcheon plate out of two sheets of 1/8" masonite glued together and slightly larger than the fan mounting cup ceiling footprint and cut a hole in the middle slightly larger than the box footprint.

Nobody will notice. I did this for a bathroom wall-mounted light.

Wood slowly chars at 120C and PVC junction boxes melt at 75C to 110C and you've got an air gap between the masonite and the box so your wooden plate is actually safer than your plastic box.
Try to tell that to the NFPA or UL.

Willie T

Although I may not always agree with Ron's particular method of achieving the same ends I would attain, I have learned to listen to his usually very correct advice.
Read THIS.

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Willie T

spark plug

There are boxes designed especially for ceiling fans, where the 8-32 machine screws (not to be confused with 8/32") thread through the base of the box in addition to the supporting bracket! for additional weight support and vibration control of the ceiling fan. Those boxes are definitely recommended wherever possible. Obviously not in this case where the original poster has a problem with a standard ceiling box and is seeking a space solution! (with a "donut")!

spark plug

This installer is "old-fashioned" and sticks to metal boxes, especially where heat-producing lights and heavy ceiling fans are concerned! We've seen (nationwide) plenty of those nice plastic junction-boxes melt down when something goes awry with the installation!