2

I purchased this home with ready to mount ceiling fan outlet/wiring/switches. I notice the installed box is rotated such that the ball mount does not swing in direction of ceiling slope. Slope of ceiling is 12 degrees. It's a Fanimation ceiling fan. Any ideas?

enter image description here

enter image description here

elec box as installed between joists

enter image description here

RenoJohn
  • 41
  • 4
  • The Hunter fans I have installed had a ball on the end of the fan rod that fit into a cup bracket attached to the ceiling. The cup had a slot on one side which might have to be facing toward the upward rising ceiling + or- 90 degrees to have clearance get the ball in. What exactly is your concern? How long is the tubular rod the fan hangs with? It has got to be longer than the short 2 or 3 inch long rods that come with the fan for mounting on a level 8 ft ceiling. You need at least 12 inch rod or 14 inch. What is the height of the ceiling above the floor at the position of the ceiling box? – Jim Stewart Aug 11 '21 at 20:36
  • It's an 18" rod with an 11' ceiling, not an issue. The slot allows rotation not inline with ceiling slope. Since the box is aligned wrong, is there an adapter that allows the ball to rotate to be inline with ceiling slope? – RenoJohn Aug 11 '21 at 20:57
  • Is there any way to purchase a 12 degree shim? Shim would increase in thickness by 1" in 5" of length. – RenoJohn Aug 11 '21 at 21:26
  • What is the pitch of the ceiling? Usually these are expressed as e.g., 3 in 12, 4 in 12, 5 in 12 etc., corresponding respectively to 14.0 deg, 18.4 deg, 22.6 deg. I can't imagine any hanger that only allows free angle movement in one plane! – Jim Stewart Aug 11 '21 at 22:52
  • 1
    You may have to buy a special adaptor to mount Fanimation fan on a sloped ceiling. I would do that rather than trying to use a wedge shim. https://www.wayfair.com/lighting/pdp/fanimation-ceiling-fan-sloped-adapters-kw3296.html – Jim Stewart Aug 11 '21 at 22:58
  • 1
    I don't understand the problem. Does the down rod not come to vertical regardless of the pin/slot orientation? – isherwood Aug 12 '21 at 14:44
  • 1
    @JimStewart some of those hangers have a key & slot that do only allow movement in one plane. I did install one like that as one of the original fans we installed in our house nearly 30 years ago. None of my recently replaced fans had them, but none were down-rod mounts, either. – FreeMan Aug 12 '21 at 14:53
  • A photo of the hardware or a product link would be great. I find it hard to believe that successful installation can only occur with a particular box arrangement. Those key-and-slot balls don't restrict swivel, in my experience. I've installed and replaced many. Also, many fan boxes have the screws oriented diagonally by design. – isherwood Aug 12 '21 at 20:55
  • If they didn't intend for them to swivel over 360 degrees they would provide a hinge instead of a ball. :) – isherwood Aug 12 '21 at 21:04
  • It's a ball but it has a keyway cut into it with a key in the ball socket. 360 support of ball in socket but only a single swivel direction. The key stops any rotation forces from the fan, from rotating at the adapter...twisting wires etc. I've now seen at least one manufacturer, Minka-Aire, produce an adapter that has curved slots for the attaching screws so you can rotate the entire adapter to account for box installations such as mine. – RenoJohn Aug 12 '21 at 21:38

3 Answers3

2

For my installation, with electrical box attached with screws to a 2x4 above box, I removed screws, rotated box 45 degrees and screwed box back to 2x4. It didn't ruin the ceiling drywall as the mud broke free to allow rotation.

Lesson learned, look at your sloped ceiling fan elec box before fan purchase and insure the best adapter is included.

Thanks for looking and commenting!

RenoJohn
  • 41
  • 4
  • So you had other holes in the box that you used to screw into the 2x4 after rotating the box 45 deg? – Jim Stewart Aug 12 '21 at 23:39
  • There were 4 screws holding box to 2x4. 2 small drywall screws and 2 larger wood screws. One hole is still lined up, near center. May have to drill a hole for second wood screw. My fan is light, 20 lbs. – RenoJohn Aug 13 '21 at 15:47
  • If the fan is going to be attached to the box, then obviously the box had better be well attached to the joist. One wood screw and one drywall screw is not sufficient. You had better get enough and the right size screws into the joist. The box was probably spec'd with four wood screws of a certain size. In some boxes the four holes are in two lines slightly offset, and the line between the two threaded holes for the fan attachment is at a small angle to the joist. This reduces the bending moment on the box. These fan boxes are designed to be installed as spec'd and not improvised. – Jim Stewart Aug 13 '21 at 17:29
  • But faced with this situation of a light fan, I might drill more holes in the box and attach the fan to the box. Incidently, there are plastic fan boxes that straddle a joist, but are not designed to hold the fan. The fan bracket is secured by long wood screws that go through holes in the box and deep into the joist. Hunter fans that I installed came with special long wood screws with special washers for this application that come in the packet with a standard fan. – Jim Stewart Aug 13 '21 at 18:12
  • The two large wood screws at 1-3/4" in length will easily hold the load of weight and torque of a 17lb fan. It's a metal box. – RenoJohn Aug 15 '21 at 20:01
  • So you are saying that you are using two 1-3/4 " wood screws to hold the metal box to the 2x4 joist? I am sure the any good screws of this length would hold the box, but as a point of information are these 1-3/4" screws ones provided in the hardware kit for the fan? – Jim Stewart Aug 15 '21 at 20:36
  • The box has near its edge two deep threaded receivers for machine screws of a certain size and thread pitch to attach the fan bracket to the box, right? Were those screws provided with the box? If not, where do you intend to get those? – Jim Stewart Aug 15 '21 at 20:40
0

If you're uncomfortable with the amount of support that the bracket will give the ball, remove the box from the ceiling and turn it 90°. Then, when you remount the bracket, you should find more of it "downhill" from the ball, giving it better support.

To be honest, if there's a key way in the support/ball, even turning it won't help. Someone simply mounted the box about 45° off of what it's needed, and the best/only solution may well be to remove the box and remount it in the precise angle that is needed. This will involve cutting some additional drywall and doing some drywall repair on the ceiling. You may be able to get away with not repairing the drywall if the shroud of the ceiling fan is large enough to hide the damage behind it, but it certainly wouldn't be a "professional" job. If it were me, I'd hem-and-haw between doing it right and doing it "good enough because it's a major pain working on a ladder at the ceiling".

FreeMan
  • 47,262
  • 25
  • 88
  • 193
  • 1
    Easier said than done with a new work box. It would probably require drywall repair (and vapor barrier, and insulation...). – isherwood Aug 12 '21 at 14:45
  • It appears the standard bracket that comes with this fan is only for a level ceiling. There is another bracket available at extra cost advertised as allowing this fan to be mounted on a sloped ceiling. – Jim Stewart Aug 12 '21 at 17:25
  • 3
    No, the bracket that came with fan is for sloped ceilings too. But it only swivels in one direction, so the box must be installed correctly. It is approximately 45 degrees off. I got lucky and found a picture I took during construction showing the method used to install the box. It is screwed directly into a 2x4 spanning the joists, over the top of the box. Should be possible to remove the drywall screws, rotate box and reattach. – RenoJohn Aug 12 '21 at 20:34
  • @RenoJohn which is exactly what I said in my answer. – FreeMan Aug 13 '21 at 11:17
  • If your fan box is attached with "drywall screws", you have bigger problems than just the box orientation. I would highly suggest replacing those with wood lag or construction screws. Drywall screws are brittle and not designed for that weight, vibration or movement. – Richard Feb 21 '24 at 19:51
0

Your fan either has one with it or you need to order a down rod kit for ceiling fan. You may even have more precise results if you say 45 degree ceiling fan down rod kit.

Either way these are easy to install just make sure they go with your fan model or universal enough to work. The big issue you may have given your picture is - is the electrical in your current fan long enough to make it up rod and through the box? There are ways to make it work by extending one of the side but this should give you an indication if the fan you currently have was made for this type of installation - which to me seems like a pretty long down rod.

Do some measurements on what you need and add on a buffer and get the right length that you need. Installing these is really simple. Might be a little work splicing these lines together though.

enter image description here

DMoore
  • 48,293
  • 15
  • 84
  • 193