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I'm trying to mount a heavy ceiling fan but ran into a unique ceiling box I've never seen before. Two bolts come down from the metal horizontal piece and pass through the plastic box.

This was the first set of pictures before I realized the box wasn't mounted by anything:

enter image description here

Then I realized it came off so here's the next set of pics:

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Is this safe to mount a heavy fan to? Should I get nylon locking nuts and just secure with those bolts?

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    What markings (if any) are present on the inside of the box?
    – ThreePhaseEel
    Commented Aug 19, 2022 at 6:10
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    There is a cross-brace visible in the second set of photos, if that rests on the joists in the ceiling then you are fine.
    – ratchet freak
    Commented Aug 19, 2022 at 7:32
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    To emphasise on @ratchetfreak's answer: try to find out how that cross brace is mounted. You might be able to stick your phone in there and make some flash photos to find out.
    – MiG
    Commented Aug 19, 2022 at 7:52
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    In the 2nd pic, the bolt is attached to a bar. That bar is for mounting the box. It is then attached to another bracket that runs between the ceiling joists to hold it in place. IMHO, that bracket does NOT look like it is sturdy enough to hold up a ceiling fan. Compare the shape/size of that bracket piece to this old work ceiling fan box (Lowe's link - just an example).
    – FreeMan
    Commented Aug 19, 2022 at 12:29
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    @ratchetfreak yes the cross bar is mounted to joists. So what's the best method to mount then? Secure the box to the bolts using nylon locking nuts and then mount to the box? Or mount directly to the bolts?
    – Zack
    Commented Aug 19, 2022 at 17:02

1 Answer 1

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Seems to me that what you have there is a ceiling fan mounting kit already installed. You could:

  • try to determine the make or model of the mount, so as to determine its weight capacity
  • verify that it appears to have been installed correctly
  • get a pair of nuts that fit the threaded studs. It's been a while since I installed one of these, so I don't recall whether they ship with any kind of locking nut, but it seems like you couldn't go wrong in choosing to use the locking style.

"Heavy" means different things to different people. Based on the small glimpse of it we can see, I'd say it looks like the sort that would easily handle an "average" ceiling fan up to 72 inches diameter or so.

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