I have a ceiling fan that I need to install where there is no power to the ceiling, so I have to use a swag kit. The swag kits I’ve seen have just a basic heavy-duty lamp wire. My question is, what do I hook the fan’s ground wire to?
Thanks in advance.
You’ll probably have to remove the zip cord from the chain and install a 3-conductor cord. I’m assuming you are controlling the fan by means of a pull chain, right?
You should have installation instructions with the fan. The fan should be mounted to a bracket attached to the joists and the base flush to the ceiling. To be code compliant a 2-#14 w/Ground should feed the fan from above the ceiling from a new breaker/(fuse) in the main box.
Feeding power to the fan is a h/a way to do it. It would not be code compliant.
In any event the green wire in the supply line should hook to the fan body/casing.
:smack:
Feeding power to the fan by zip coard and hanging the fan from a chain is a h/a way to do it and the fan could swing wildly creating a hazard.
It would not be code compliant.
They make a swag kit for ceiling fans. The fan doesn’t hang from the chain, but rather from a hook that is screwed up into the ceiling joist. Not ideal, I grant you.
Nothing that I read in the 2005 NEC permits swagging of a ceiling fan. While the suitable support issue could be argued, let’s look at Article 400 Flexible Cords and Cables. Under 400.7 Uses Permitted: pendants, luminaires, portable lamps or appliances and others are listed. A ceiling fan is not portable once secured to a ceiling, and is neither a pendant nor a luminaire. If inspecting, I would fail it under 400.8 Uses Not Permitted (1) As a substitute for the fixed wiring of a structure. Over in 422.16 Flexible Cords (A) General, their use is permitted “…and the appliance is intended or identified for flexible cord connection.” Neither of those apply to a ceiling fan.
What to do? I was faced with this query last month-a lady in a condo wanted a ceiling fan in her bedroom, and the ceiling was precast concrete, notoriously difficult to fish cable through. So, at the wall switch for a receptable, a Wiremold extension box was installed, I went up and across the ceiling in 400 series surface raceway to a fan-rated box which was installed to the concrete ceiling with Tapcon™ concrete anchors. Secure, code compliant, and grounded.
I don’t ever want to suggest that anyone break the rules but what is the point of a ground wire in a ceiling fan? Can you give a situation where this would be necessary?
Sure: the fan blades are dusty. You climb up on your aluminum ladder to dust it. You grab the metal case of the fan. It grabs you back.