My living room has an elevated ceiling that rises and peaks somewhere
inside, with a beam running across it. In this beam is one ceiling fan.
I am hoping to replace it, as well as installing a second fan on this
beam. It's a room that could use two fans, and I wouldn't mind
extending the circuit if I had to; I would want both fans to be
controlled by the same switch.

Replacing the original fan seems easy enough, and it would perhaps be
the easiest installation in the whole house. I've put two fans in
elsewhere, and they were trouble for different reasons. This is an
existing fixture that's right in the beam. My real concern is what I'd
have to do to extend cable if I must.

I don't see how the original fan was wired. There's no crawl space in
that part of the ceiling. From what I can tell, it's just inches away
from the roof itself. The beam was painted by the previous owners, and
it hides anything that might have been done. I don't see a painted over
wire running along the beam, so it must have gotten its power somehow.

Does anybody have an idea of how a fan like that is wired? Is it
practical to DIY install the second fan? The worst installation was
changing a light fixture to mount a fan. I had to put in a new hole two
feet away from the original fixture and run wire to it. I put the radio
receiver for it in the original fixture's hole. Am I looking at
something much more complicated?

The wiring to the existing fan was done during construction and would
probably be impractical to try to wire a second fan the same way. You could
install a surface mounted box at the original location and extend a conduit
from it to the second location. "Wiremold" company makes surface mounted fan
support boxes as well as more decorative conduit


"Adam Preble" wrote in message
...
My living room has an elevated ceiling that rises and peaks somewhere
inside, with a beam running across it. In this beam is one ceiling fan. I
am hoping to replace it, as well as installing a second fan on this beam.
It's a room that could use two fans, and I wouldn't mind extending the
circuit if I had to; I would want both fans to be controlled by the same
switch.

Replacing the original fan seems easy enough, and it would perhaps be the
easiest installation in the whole house. I've put two fans in elsewhere,
and they were trouble for different reasons. This is an existing fixture
that's right in the beam. My real concern is what I'd have to do to
extend cable if I must.

I don't see how the original fan was wired. There's no crawl space in
that part of the ceiling. From what I can tell, it's just inches away
from the roof itself. The beam was painted by the previous owners, and it
hides anything that might have been done. I don't see a painted over wire
running along the beam, so it must have gotten its power somehow.

Does anybody have an idea of how a fan like that is wired? Is it
practical to DIY install the second fan? The worst installation was
changing a light fixture to mount a fan. I had to put in a new hole two
feet away from the original fixture and run wire to it. I put the radio
receiver for it in the original fixture's hole. Am I looking at something
much more complicated?

"Adam Preble" wrote in message
...
My living room has an elevated ceiling that rises and peaks somewhere
inside, with a beam running across it. In this beam is one ceiling fan. I
am hoping to replace it, as well as installing a second fan on this beam.
It's a room that could use two fans, and I wouldn't mind extending the
circuit if I had to; I would want both fans to be controlled by the same
switch.

Replacing the original fan seems easy enough, and it would perhaps be the
easiest installation in the whole house. I've put two fans in elsewhere,
and they were trouble for different reasons. This is an existing fixture
that's right in the beam. My real concern is what I'd have to do to
extend cable if I must.

I don't see how the original fan was wired. There's no crawl space in
that part of the ceiling. From what I can tell, it's just inches away
from the roof itself. The beam was painted by the previous owners, and it
hides anything that might have been done. I don't see a painted over wire
running along the beam, so it must have gotten its power somehow.

Does anybody have an idea of how a fan like that is wired? Is it
practical to DIY install the second fan? The worst installation was
changing a light fixture to mount a fan. I had to put in a new hole two
feet away from the original fixture and run wire to it. I put the radio
receiver for it in the original fixture's hole. Am I looking at something
much more complicated?

Go to an electrical & lighting store and take a look at surface mounted wire
channel material. It's metal low-profile stuff that you run the wire
through. It's easy to sand to a matte finish, and then paint the same color
as the surface it's mounted on. Use it to extend wire from the existing fan
to the new one.

I wanted to update the thread. I've been looking at the existing
ceiling fan for the longest time and I think I finally figured out what
they did to wire it . . . after posting on the Internet.

My original description of the beam is wrong. It isn't at the apex of
the ceiling. Rather, it's about halfway up. So you'd have one side of
the beam more exposed than the other, right? Well, on the side with
more exposed, it looks like they had boards running across that jut out
off the beam. I'm betting they're running wires behind it.

I'll have to see if this is that channel material that has been
mentioned already. Given 2/2 suggested that, I would imagine so.

"Adam Preble" wrote in message
...
I wanted to update the thread. I've been looking at the existing ceiling
fan for the longest time and I think I finally figured out what they did to
wire it . . . after posting on the Internet.

My original description of the beam is wrong. It isn't at the apex of the
ceiling. Rather, it's about halfway up. So you'd have one side of the
beam more exposed than the other, right? Well, on the side with more
exposed, it looks like they had boards running across that jut out off the
beam. I'm betting they're running wires behind it.

I'll have to see if this is that channel material that has been mentioned
already. Given 2/2 suggested that, I would imagine so.

Actually, you could make (or have someone make) your own surface channel out
of wood. If someone's skilled with a router, it could be quite decorative.

***BUT***, I'm not sure it would be up to code, running wire through a
closed wood channel, even though wire runs through holes in your walls to
begin with. If you're doing it yourself, you may not care. If you're
planning on having an electrician do the work, he can advise you further.

Wiremold channel would only have been used if the conduit had to be exposed
and visible. If they were able to conceal the wiring behind something, it's
probably just a cable



"Adam Preble" wrote in message
...
I wanted to update the thread. I've been looking at the existing ceiling
fan for the longest time and I think I finally figured out what they did to
wire it . . . after posting on the Internet.

My original description of the beam is wrong. It isn't at the apex of the
ceiling. Rather, it's about halfway up. So you'd have one side of the
beam more exposed than the other, right? Well, on the side with more
exposed, it looks like they had boards running across that jut out off the
beam. I'm betting they're running wires behind it.

I'll have to see if this is that channel material that has been mentioned
already. Given 2/2 suggested that, I would imagine so.