Need an electrician who knows ancient houses

I bought Big Ass Fan’s Haiku ceiling fan/lighting fixture last week, and was all ready to install it yesterday. Got all the tools ready, shut off the juice, got on top of my ladder, and got to removing the old existing fixture. XXXX. No electrical housing box. Just some gnarly-looking iron thing sticking out of the ceiling. Couldn’t make heads or tails out of it. Crest-fallen, I closed it back up. I see two problems. 1\. Whatever that iron thing is needs to be removed and replaced by a modern day electrical box. 2\. The thing sits right in the center of my gorgeous rosette — made of plaster — which I don’t want disturbed. Does anyone know of an electrician who has expertise in handling situations like this? Please help!

Guest User | 9 years and 2 months ago

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MASTERELECTRICIAN | 9 years and 2 months ago

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As far as fans are concerned you have a great product that runs quietly and very efficiently. With any ceiling fan you have to be concerned about vibration even though the gas pipe may be strong enough to support the fans weight it may move as the fan runs creating a wobble. Others above mentioned that you will need a canopy extension which will probably be the case in order to hide the gas pipe. We have installed about 35 Haiku fans and many of their huge fans. We are listed in the directory under Electrical Security Corp. if you need further assistance.

Guest User | 9 years and 2 months ago

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Thank you so much, you all!! I just contacted Rick and am now waiting to hear back from him. Keep your fingers crossed for me. It’s been very informative.

BobMarvin | 9 years and 2 months ago

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the hickey is the silver thing threaded onto the gas pipe, with a smaller pipe threaded into the bottom. FWIW I’ve met Rick a couple of times, although he’s never done any work for me. IMO he’d be an excellent person to hang this fan if you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself. Even though I’ve hung several fans over the years I’m thinking that I just might hire someone to hang the replacement fan I bought for my kitchen and that’s a relatively simple installation, from a conventional electric box. At my age the idea of hanging a heavy object overhead is less than appealing. The last fan I hung, about four years ago (from a gas pipe) was a bitch to work on that took me two days and necessitated a phone call for advice to the store that sold it to me

Rick | 9 years and 2 months ago

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I don’t think this is a DIY project for you. You can reach me by email through the link below. I may be able to do this for you next week. http://www.brownstoner.com/rickladd

Guest User | 9 years and 2 months ago

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Is the “hickey” the silver thing that the fixture is dangling off of, or the rusty platey looking thing that seems to be screwed onto the old pipe?

BobMarvin | 9 years and 2 months ago

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It looks like a gas pipe with a hickey attached, holding another pipe. The gas pipe is obviously NOT live, since it’s open at the end where the hickey is screwed on. Slight tilt shouldn’t matter. All the ceiling fans I’ve seen swing from their mounts and can accommodate a tilt.

Rick | 9 years and 2 months ago

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What you have is typical. All you need to do is attach a mounting bar for your fixture on the pipe with a nut or hickey on the underside. Wrap your wires well with electric tape, add a spacer ring and install your fixture to the mounting bar.

Guest User | 9 years and 2 months ago

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This is the “gnarly” thing I was talking about. As you can see, it’s difficult to see how it is connected to what above the ceiling line. The opening would have to be enlarged, i.e. the rosette will have to be removed at least enough, in order to really see what’s going on — unless you know what’s going on because you’ve seen it before. What’s more, the darn thing isn’t on straight. It’s ever so slightly tilted — which does not bode well for a ceiling fan…

thetinkerswagon | 9 years and 2 months ago

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keep in mind that that “gnarly looking thing” may be an old style iron junction. really, a pipe is a pipe and we have all seen them for gas, but gnarly looking sounds like an old junction. are there wires in this gnarly thing? Steve

BobMarvin | 9 years and 2 months ago

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Spacer rings, which you almost certainly will need if you hang a fan from a gas box, can be painted to match either the canopy, or the ceiling; that way they don’t look too bad. BTW, old-fashioned bell-shaped canopies were designed to hide gas pipes when hanging light fixtures, but they won’t work with fans.

Rick | 9 years and 2 months ago

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Depending on how long the gas pipe is, it can be difficult to get the canopy flush with the ceiling. Often a spacer ring is used between the ceiling and the canopy. Not as attractive but better than seeing the gap.

BobMarvin | 9 years and 2 months ago

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I’ve always hung light fixtures and fans on my own, but, if you’re not comfortable doing that, by all means have the work done by an electrician, or handyman. One problem with an electrician might be that it could be hard finding someone willing to use the old gas box, instead of a new box rated for hanging a fan. I think those heavy-duty boxes use a cross-bar fastened between joists, which could mean trouble for your existing plaster medallion.

BobMarvin | 9 years and 2 months ago

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“Do they sell something out there that you can attach to the gas fixture or do I have to jerry-rig something?” When I bought my first Hunter fan long ago Lamp Warehouse sold me a ready-made “gas hickey”, but it turned out that my parlor floor gas pipe was larger than normal, so it didn’t fit and they cobbled something together for me, which worked fine. The next fan I installed, years later, they didn’t have anything ready-made, but had parts that worked fine. BTW, “hickey”, short for “dohickey”, is a real term used by electricians.

Guest User | 9 years and 2 months ago

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Thank you, everyone! It all makes sense now. Sounds like I should be able to install the fan without removing the gas fixture? But how do I do that? Do they sell something out there that you can attach to the gas fixture or do I have to jerry-rig something? I should still find a good electrician. Any ideas on how I can find one for this particular problem?

argylerd | 9 years and 2 months ago

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We hung original Hunter fans, the heavy ones, from the gas pipes years ago with no problem.

Rick | 9 years and 2 months ago

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Likely you have an old gas fixture with the electric cable going through a hockey puck shaped looking disk. Often you can attach your fixture to the gas pipe. Replacing the box can be problematic with the plaster rosette.

BobMarvin | 9 years and 2 months ago

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Those old gas lines can support a **very** heavy fixture. You’ll need a “gas hickey”, either pre-made, or cobbled together from parts to hang your fan from it. Using the gas pipe is a bit more work than hanging the fan from an existing modern box, but plenty strong enough, if done right. Much better IMO than messing with your ceiling medallion.

Townie | 9 years and 2 months ago

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What you may be looking at is the old gas line with circular adaptor used to convert to electric. Electricians who work on old houses will be able to do the work without wrecking the plaster. You need a box rated for the weight of the big ass fan.

Arkady | 9 years and 2 months ago

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Depending on the size of the hole for the old fixture, it can be fairly easy to install a new box. If your existing rosette would accommodate the ceiling plate for the new fan, it sounds as if you have room to maneuver.