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Nate Nagel wrote:
wrote:
wrote:

I am hanging a ceiling fan and found the following when I dropped the
light:

1) There are 3 romex cables coming into the box. I will call them A,
B and C.

2) Ground wires (bare): A & B are twisted together and loose in
box...each wire is about 3 inches long. C is grounded to box.

3) Black wires: A & B are twisted together and capped off with a wire
connector. They are pushed back in box (unconnected). C is twisted
together with B's white wire and connected to black wire from ceiling
light.

4) White wires: A & C are twisted together and connected to white wire
from ceiling light. As mentioned above, B is tied together with C's
black wire from C and connected to black wire from ceiling light.

Is this, which appears to me as a mess, correct? Should I: (a) hang my
ceiling fan and maintain the current wiring arrangement, (b) use only
the wires on C and cap of A & B with wire connectors, or (c) call an
electrician?

Thanks.

My suggestion would be to simply maintain the current wiring
arrangement. It's not really a mess unless the box is to small. You
should probably connect ground wires A&B to the box if there's room in
the box to do so. If there isn't room, I think I would leave it alone
or swap out the box.

Your biggest problem is in bracing the box so that it can carry the
weight of the ceiling fan. I did that once and as I recall, I precut a
piece of 2 x 4 lumber and screwed it on to the ceiling trusses and then
screwed the electrical box on to the 2 x 4. I think I actually replaced
the box while I was at it, but I wouldn't do that unless you have to.

I *would* replace the box if there is access from above. I believe most
ceiling fans want 10-32 screws not whatever the standard ceiling box is
(6-32?) also a proper fan box will have more secure holes for the
screws to thread into than the bent tabs on a regular ceiling box.

I didn't know there were special electrical boxes available for ceiling
fans. The only installation I ever did was back in about 1985 and I
just sort of jury-rigged everything with 2x4s, etc. The fan is still
hanging there so I must have done OK :

It could be, though, that the special boxes were available even back
then and I just didn't know it.

nate

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