Quick ceiling fan question

[Craftsman_88]

So I have an older home where all the electrical is ran in conduit. Been doing a lot of work to the home lately. Next up is removal of the old ceiling fans, and install of some matching ones that will push a bit more light. I noticed there was no additional support bar on the metal ceiling box. The fan was very sturdy, and so is the box. Is the additional support bracket for the ceiling box always needed when installing a fan?
Ken

 

[daveroy]

older house, already had fans... if the boxes aren't loose now, I think you should be fine.

 

[Craftsman_88]

Thats what I was hopeing. I asked a guy I know from lowes when I bought the fans. He is an electrician. He told me to get the support, and was super rude about it. So yeah. Thanks for your imput! If it gets loose I can add the support

 

[DrunkSmurf]

I've left them as is in the past and all was well for the time I was around.

I'm not sure how your's are situated, but if possible, you could always **** some 2by along each side of the box for extra support. I've done this as well in the past.

 

[munkey]

I agree with the lumber suggestion, especially if you have attic access. I had difficulties with some metal braces, etc. and found the best (and cheapest!) solution to be running a length of 2x4 between the nearest joists for support. Screw the lumber to the joists, and the box to the lumber, and you'll have peace of mind for a very small amount of labor -- again, assuming you can get to the joists easily.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Its not the support of the box, so much as its the box itself. You are only hanging that fan on about two threads, three at the most, if those are regular electrical boxes. Fan boxes have long sleeves with lots of thread in them, crimped into the box. I mounted the fans in my shop on regular boxes, but I ran mounting bolts all the way thru the box from the top side and used self locking nuts. I also installed safety straps over the top of the unistrut, and a safety cable inside the downrod. Needless to say, I'm not depending on those two little screws to hold a 60 inch fan and a 4 ft galvanized water pipe downrod up!

Charles

 

[munkey]

Its not the support of the box, so much as its the box itself. You are only hanging that fan on about two threads, three at the most, if those are regular electrical boxes.

You're definitely right... my other post was a bit half hearted, and I should have been more specific.

Here's the more complete story: my 1950's house has ceiling boxes with very weak metal braces. The $30 Lowe's fan above our bed was vibrating and swinging like crazy, obviously stressing it a great deal. I just didn't trust it to hold a fan above our heads while we slept. Isn't it an ugly little brace? I especially didn't like it being secured by two rusty nails in the BOTTOM of the joist. (Surely attaching a brace that nails to the sides of the joists would have been more robust for a vertical load???)

What I did was remove the whole thing, run a 2x4 above the electrical box, and screw a new electrical box into it... BUT, I also secured the fan "bracket thingie" directly to the lumber with very long screws that run through the box. (The fan came with them because this was the suggested way to install it.)

It goes without saying that even though my initial plan was just to strengthen the box, once I had done all the work I couldn't resist putting a nice new fan in. After all, who would want to reinstall a crusty old fan that was almost certainly worth less than the brand new electrical box above it?