Old Work Box for 5 lb Fixture

[Jerramundi]

These are listed for fixture support up to 20 pounds and less than $4.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Slater-...racket-Box-with-Auto-Clamps-C118WAC/304234992

Interesting option Infinity... but here in Chicago non-metal boxes get you taken out back to the work shed and shot, lol

 

[hbiss]

Ahh, didn't know you were in Chicago. I have a special place in my heart for EMT.

Anyway, we had a thread awhile back where someone was using 1900 bracket boxes and raised round rings in new construction for ceiling fixtures. These were light weight fixtures in hallways. The inspector shot that down because the box and ring aren't rated for the vertical load. Only walls.

-Hal

 

[mopowr steve]

I think I looked into this a while back,
I think I found that the P&S round old work box although rated 20 lb fixture support only applied when mounting in a wall and did not list it for fixture support in ceilings but Carlon’s box did have some ceiling rating for fixture support.

 

[GoldDigger]

It would make a lot of sense that a box keyed to the drywall the way an old work box is could sustain a much greater weight parallel to the drywall than perpendicular to it.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

1

 

[GeorgeB]

It was this style

And to what were those screws in the back surface attached? Surely they don't just pull the spring clamp in?

 

[LarryFine]

And to what were those screws in the back surface attached? Surely they don't just pull the spring clamp in?

Yes, that's all they do, and don't call him Shirley.

 

[Jerramundi]

Ahh, didn't know you were in Chicago. I have a special place in my heart for EMT.

Anyway, we had a thread awhile back where someone was using 1900 bracket boxes and raised round rings in new construction for ceiling fixtures. These were light weight fixtures in hallways. The inspector shot that down because the box and ring aren't rated for the vertical load. Only walls.

-Hal

Hal,

You and I both sir. The majority of the past 10 years of my life has been bending 1/2" EMT. I used to get yelled at all the time for an 89 deg. 90, haha... but it honed my skills. Us conduit benders usually look down our noses at Romex and the like, haha... but as I've become purview to the code and local amendments, I understand that Romex and Cable has its' place. I still prefer conduit though. You can't replace cable easily. Conduit allows for future maintenance of the wiring, but I digress...

I have to ask though, where do you get that Square to Round rings aren't rated for the vertical load? This is news to me. I was under the impression that they were rated for lightweight fixtures precisely because they employ the use of 8/32's.

I could be wrong, but it sounds like the inspector had a stick up his a$$ that morning, haha.

Raco 756 is clearly listed, at least by the manufacturer, for a STATIC max fixture load of 50 lbs...
https://hubbellcdn.com/ohwassets/HCI...ccessories.pdf
https://www.hubbell.com/raco/en/Prod.../756/p/2137745

According to the UL Certification file for Raco Metallic Outlet Boxes, the only products specifically listed "suitable for fixture support" are 926, 936, 937, and 939... all being your typical "bar hanger" type remodel fan box. This would negate the use of even Octagon boxes for fixture support.

So, if someone wants to claim you need to use an 8b box for ceiling fixtures, as opposed to a 1900 box w/ a square to round ring, the only document in support of that is the manufacturers specifications... but that SAME document clearly lists square to round rings as suitable for static fixtures up to 50 lbs.

http://productspec.ul.com/document.php?id=QCIT.E195978

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Yes, that's all they do, and don't call him Shirley.

LOL, yep those screws just tighten the bracket to the sheetrock. Squeeze the clamp tight push thru the hole and the metal springs out onto the sheetrock. Then tighten with the screws

 

[hbiss]

Hal,

You and I both sir. The majority of the past 10 years of my life has been bending 1/2" EMT. I used to get yelled at all the time for an 89 deg. 90, haha... but it honed my skills. Us conduit benders usually look down our noses at Romex and the like, haha... but as I've become purview to the code and local amendments, I understand that Romex and Cable has its' place. I still prefer conduit though. You can't replace cable easily. Conduit allows for future maintenance of the wiring, but I digress...

I have to ask though, where do you get that Square to Round rings aren't rated for the vertical load? This is news to me. I was under the impression that they were rated for lightweight fixtures precisely because they employ the use of 8/32's.

I could be wrong, but it sounds like the inspector had a stick up his a$$ that morning, haha.

Raco 756 is clearly listed, at least by the manufacturer, for a STATIC max fixture load of 50 lbs...
https://hubbellcdn.com/ohwassets/HCI...ccessories.pdf
https://www.hubbell.com/raco/en/Prod.../756/p/2137745

According to the UL Certification file for Raco Metallic Outlet Boxes, the only products specifically listed "suitable for fixture support" are 926, 936, 937, and 939... all being your typical "bar hanger" type remodel fan box. This would negate the use of even Octagon boxes for fixture support.

So, if someone wants to claim you need to use an 8b box for ceiling fixtures, as opposed to a 1900 box w/ a square to round ring, the only document in support of that is the manufacturers specifications... but that SAME document clearly lists square to round rings as suitable for static fixtures up to 50 lbs.

http://productspec.ul.com/document.php?id=QCIT.E195978

Without redoing all the research that was in that thread (if I could even remember it), I believe that it was the way the bracket on the 1900 box and the way that it attached to the side of the joist that was the problem. It was prone to twisting. So another case of the box itself being able to support the load but not the way it was supported by the structure.

For the record, I can't tell you how many boxes like that I have installed for ceiling fixtures that have never been challenged.

-Hal

 

[Little Bill]

I went to a call similar to Dennis' call, fan hanging by the wires. The fan was mounted to a regular round nail-on box. The nails held but the box broke around the screw holes.