# Ceiling Fan Fell Down!



## Sun763 (Apr 28, 2015)

Hello Everyone,

I just had a ceiling fan fall on me yesterday. Here are some details:

I've been living in a house for about 4 years and haven't had any issues with the fan until yesterday. I went to turn the fan speed from low to high and the fan sort of staggered, and then started at the high setting. I had never seen it do that before so I clicked it back to low, and it staggered again. Next thing I know, the fan is falling on top of me and somehow (no idea how) I just jumped out of the way and wasn't hit. The fan hit the ground and the glass parts shattered and one of the fan blades broke in half. I moved the whole apparatus to my patio while I cleaned everything up. I have no idea what happened. I have been here 4 years and never had an issue of any kind with the fan and it has always run perfectly. I haven't tried to do anything else because I don't know what I'm doing at this point, never installed a fan before or had any experience with them. I can see wires exposed and have turned off the switch. The fan also had light fixtures as well. Any ideas as to what happened and what to do from this point?


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

Sun763 said:


> I have no idea what happened. I have been here 4 years and never had an issue of any kind with the fan and it has always run perfectly.


If a fan is installed incorrectly (with respect to support), then there is not going to be any "issue" ahead of time that tips you off. It's either going to fall down at some point, or it's not.

I have never personally heard of a fan falling (except on this thread). However it's very, very, very common for them to be installed incorrectly. The reason the code exists is exactly for situations like this. Unfortunately, even if fans are installed incorrectly, they _usually_ still stay up, and that's why people never learn, or care very much, about the more expensive, correct installation.

Most likely, your fan was held up only by the tiny little screws (or maybe even 1 screw) that holds the canopy to the top bracket and the fan. As you can see, the downrod sits in the mounting bracket. If that is installed correctly, it could hold a tank. Also, the mounting bracket must be attached solidly to the fan rated electric box. Note the term _fan rated._ It must be attached solidly to actual joists.

By far the most common thing for people to do is screw the mounting bracket into a box that is not fan rated. It might be plastic, and just nailed to a side joist, or even less. If you do not have a box that is solidly mounted to a joist above it, then you have to get a ceiling fan bar to put in there.

Another common mistake is to skip the downrod altogether, in which case the whole fan is supported only by the tiny little screw(s) holding the canopy in place. That flimsy little thing is designed only to help itself in place (2 ounces), not the whole fan (30 pounds).


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## Sun763 (Apr 28, 2015)

*Pics of Mounting*

Here are some pictures of where the fan was mounted. Any observations that you might have ?


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

What is the C shaped thing inside the canopy, around the downrod? It looks from here like the bottom of the mounting bracket, that actually broke off. Is the mounting bracket made of metal or plastic? Can you see the name of the manufacturer anywhere?


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

Plastic bracket holding the fan up broke allowing the fan to fall. This thread was started back in 2012 and the OP made 1 post.


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## mikegp (Jul 17, 2011)

That ball at the top of the down rod where the wires are coming through usually sits in a type of cup shaped mount so that it cannot fall down. It looks like your fan either had a material failure or the mount that was used was incorrect. That also appears to be plastic which just sounds like a bad idea. If you can get a new mount you should be able to save the fan, but the stuttering you mentioned may mean it had some motor issues.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

Plastic mounting bracket seems like a cheap/bad idea. Especially since fans are sometimes out of balance, I would not want plastic taking that kind of stress.


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## mikegp (Jul 17, 2011)

Just looked at the pic again. The bottom of the mounting bracket is sitting at the end of the down rod. Definitely looks like plastic and definitely broke.


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## tylernt (Jul 5, 2012)

I have no objections to a non-metallic fan-rated junction box: rated is rated. But that downrod bracket being plastic is just a terrible idea.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

I've seen a lot of plastic downrods. Or at least the top ball is plastic, with a metal rod or pipe. I don't recall seeing a plastic bracket though.


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## Sun763 (Apr 28, 2015)

Greetings,

I just got home and want to thank everyone for their input. I took some more pictures of the c-shaped item and it appears to be a metal part of the housing (canopy?) and not a plastic piece. Here are a few more pics. Let me know if I should take pics of a specific piece for you to see more clearly. Is it possible the vibration of the fan over the last 4 years or so, caused the fan to loosen somehow? I got to looking at the ceiling where it was mounted and I can't see anywhere that any screws were attached to. When the fan fell, two yellow screw caps went flying as well.


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## jmon (Nov 5, 2012)

Additionally, picture in post 3, looks like old cloth wiring. Be careful and make sure no bare wires are exposed when hooking it back up.


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## danpik (Sep 11, 2011)

I would bet money that is not a fan rated box either. The drywall screws holding it in are not rated for load in that orientation. The missing knockout should also be plugged


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## mikegp (Jul 17, 2011)

There won't be any screw holes in the ceiling. Everything is bolted to the electrical box itself. There aren't even bolts holding the fan up, the ball just sits in the part that broke.


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