Ceiling Fans

Status
Not open for further replies.

elvis_931

Senior Member
Location
Tennessee
I have to give an estimate on installing ceiling fans in a church. There is a drop 2x4 ceiling about 3' below and old wood ceiling. They want the fans to hang down about 2.5' below the drop ceiling. I would appreciate any suggestions on suspending these and also how to stabilize them. I am assuming that I would have to go to the wood ceiling for support. Is there any hardware out there that would work well in this situation?
 

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
go to your supply house and see if they have an erico catalog. they might have something that will work for this. i haven't done this with fans, but the heaviest thing i ever hung off a dropped ceiling was one of magnifying lights in a doctors office. weighed about 30lbs. we took a 2x12, cut it into a square and attached the light support to it. then we ran all-thread up off the corners to the structural supports about 2ft up and bolted the all-thread rods. it worked out fine. you might find some sort of threaded bracket that you could attach to the rafters in the wood ceiling. not saying this is the best way, but the only way i know how.
 

Brady Electric

Senior Member
Location
Asheville, N. C.
ceiling fans

ceiling fans

brantmacga said:
go to your supply house and see if they have an erico catalog. they might have something that will work for this. i haven't done this with fans, but the heaviest thing i ever hung off a dropped ceiling was one of magnifying lights in a doctors office. weighed about 30lbs. we took a 2x12, cut it into a square and attached the light support to it. then we ran all-thread up off the corners to the structural supports about 2ft up and bolted the all-thread rods. it worked out fine. you might find some sort of threaded bracket that you could attach to the rafters in the wood ceiling. not saying this is the best way, but the only way i know how.
I agree, I have done the same thing with ceiling fans. That's the only way I know that will support the ceiling fan and make it sturdy. Semper Fi.
 

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
FBRS420SC-a.jpg


Cat. #FBRS420SC
 

elvis_931

Senior Member
Location
Tennessee
I checked the parts house. They run $26.00. Thanks for the info. These are exactly what I need. I can hang a 24" down rod from the box and support the box kit from the wood ceiling.
 

elvis_931

Senior Member
Location
Tennessee
stickboy1375 said:
FBRS420SC-a.jpg


Cat. #FBRS420SC

I installed 4 fans using these box kits. They are a great idea. They worked well after I persuaded them some. When I put them in, there was about a 1/2-3/4" gap from the open edge of the box to the top of the ceiling tile:confused: . I had to trim the tile and tighten the mounting bracket to the box to pull the box flush with the bottom of the tile. Did I not install it correctly or what? Two of the fans were balanced pretty good, but I tried and tried to balance the other two. I finally got them fairly well balanced, but they need to be better balanced. I tried all I know to do, but just could not get them to stop wobbling. Any tips on balancing these fans/installing these box kits?
 

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
elvis_931 said:
I installed 4 fans using these box kits. They are a great idea. They worked well after I persuaded them some. When I put them in, there was about a 1/2-3/4" gap from the open edge of the box to the top of the ceiling tile:confused: . Did I not install it correctly or what?
If they're like other t-bar box hangers, you need to break a little piece off the bottoms of the fingers where they click onto the track at each side to get certain boxes flush.
 
ceiling fans

ceiling fans

Is this the preferred method of mounting? Another solution: I mounted an old-style surface-mount fixture stud screwed through real ceiling plaster into a joist. (I guess a box with a stud, used just for support, would also work?) Then a hickey and a 3/8-IP pipe screwed into that. And the bottom of that became the fixture stud for the ceiling box. (The pipe has to be custom-cut and threaded to the dropped ceiling space, of course.) Only problem was, I couldn't get the tile back in after I installed the box! After an hour of finagling and one ruined tile, I removed the box with BX attached, shoved it into the ceiling and then replaced the tile and GINGERLY pulled the box sideways through the cutout. It worked, but there's gotta be a better way?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top