Front porch fans

RR

RR

....glutton for punishment.....
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We bought this house 4 years ago.

Shortly after moving in I noticed that there were two empty fixture boxes between the recessed lights on the porch and a switch by the front door that didn't seem to do anything. My first though was to put a couple fans there. Well I thought about it for 4 years.... :).

Today after a Father's Day brunch at Reverence Farms we hit Lowe's and picked up a couple wet location appropriate fans.

Got them installed this afternoon. Now to have a little breeze with my bourbon this evening.

MVIMG_20190616_164057.jpg
 
Yeah this is pretty awesome. Wish I'd done it 4 years ago.

I bought fans that can take direct weather even though these will never get rained on like that under the porch overhang. Even so they weren't terribly expensive.
 
I'd like one under my porch.
But I always see them with drooped blades and it looks silly...
Prolly from people not using appropriate outdoor fans and putting in room fans with cardboard blades.
 
Yeah these are solid plastic fan blades. No droopy droopy.
 
When we moved into our house it had a screened in porch with a fan. I thought it was silly at the time - now I spend most evenings out there.
 
Love it man.

Here is a stupid question for anyone that might know. I've got a light just like the light in between your fans, how hard would it be to put a fan like yours in that spot? Would it need to be wired with a special junction box or can you use the place we're the light is as is?
 
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@Cowboy If you have a box there to support weight of fan not hard, typically metal round box. Only down side is you replace light with fan and potentially a light kit and its all on one circuit. That just means you have to control fans and light off one switch and then turn fan on and off with the pull chain on fans unless you wanted to go threw effort to pull another circuit. Its pretty common for it to be just on one curcuit though.
 
That box he mentioned is special and anchored more securely than a “normal” box. I’m pretty sure you can find a retro box to replace what you have.

Also, there are cheap remote control systems where the receiver is hidden in the fan’s canopy and you have a wireless transmitter that controls the light (on/off/brightness), fan speed and direction independently. I have those in 4 rooms. Extremely cool to be able to control the fan from bed. ;)
 
Soon you’ll be wanting a screened in porch. Those fans are great attraction for birds to build nests.
 
Jeppo said:
That box he mentioned is special and anchored more securely than a “normal” box. I’m pretty sure you can find a retro box to replace what you have.

Also, there are cheap remote control systems where the receiver is hidden in the fan’s canopy and you have a wireless transmitter that controls the light (on/off/brightness), fan speed and direction independently. I have those in 4 rooms. Extremely cool to be able to control the fan from bed. ;)
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I have used these a few times and they work well. The hardest part was removing the old box when the installer had nailed it in with ringed nails. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Westing...PIPHorizontal2_rr-_-204845572-_-204845573-_-N
 
And the kind of remotes I mentioned above can be found on Amazon for almost nothing. Search for "ceiling fan remote control".
 
Fans make a huge difference. We have a couple on our screened in back porch. Fortunately it faces east so it is shaded in the evening. We can typically enjoy the porch most of the year with fans and heaters
 
I put one out back under the pergola and love it. It STATED WET CONDITIONS on the box. Provides a nice breeze and when smoking a cigar it helps with the smoke when there is no breeze.
 
KnotRight said:
I put one out back under the pergola and love it. It STATED WET CONDITIONS on the box. Provides a nice breeze and when smoking a cigar it helps with the smoke when there is no breeze.
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Yeah we have a pergola on the back porch. I'm now looking at it thinking...... LOL.
 
Ceiling fans need to be in an electrical box rated for supporting fans. It’s much more difficult to put these in after porches are finished. Not so much in attics. Pulling an extra circuit, adding a switch, and new size gang box is a lot of work when you can simply pull a chain and cut off lights or fan speeds in an area of smaller use. Keep it simple.

Also. Fans are great for driving bugs from the area. They don’t like wind in calm conditions.
 
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concepthomes1 said:
RR - did you have to reinforce the ceiling boxes?

I converted my two back porch ceiling lights to fan/light combos and noticed the electrician had shoddily installed the boxes. I had to remove the ceiling and install bracing along with new boxes rated for the heavier weight of the fans.
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That's what I'm afraid I would have to do for my porch.
 
They makes some pretty cool little expandable braces for holding boxes in ceilings. Basically attached to ceiling joists with spikes. If you can get the old box out, the brace fits in the old ceiling hole and then mount the new box to it. I used one at our old house when I replaced a ceiling fan and it was hanging from an old bakelite box.

This is similar to the one I used.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/raco-1-gan...67fiqJos3E-5OY7cB4NYbkc7b1m1oXVsaAvwdEALw_wcB
 
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concepthomes1 said:
RR - did you have to reinforce the ceiling boxes?

I converted my two back porch ceiling lights to fan/light combos and noticed the electrician had shoddily installed the boxes. I had to remove the ceiling and install bracing along with new boxes rated for the heavier weight of the fans.
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Nope. These were fan rated boxes and were solid.
 
BatteryOaksBilly said:
We have 200+ feet of porches here. They get used more than the inside.
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Yup. I've got 10x42 out front covered and 12 x 36 out back with a 12x12 pergola in the middle. I basically live out there.
 
rantingredneck said:
Nah, got two rocking chairs and a swing.
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Those rockers are quite comfy!

I've got one of those droopy fans in my screened patio. I didn't know there was an outdoor rated version. I'll check at lowes tomorrow. I know that I installed one of those gadgets that spans a couple studs to provide a a sturdy anchor spot for the fan (nothing ruins a quiet introspective evening on the patio, like being Vic Morrow-ed by a collapsing ceiling fan) and that was the hardest part of the job.

Good work!
 
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JohnFreeman said:
Those rockers are quite comfy!

I've got one of those droopy fans in my screened patio. I didn't know there was an outdoor rated version. I'll check at lowes tomorrow. I know that I installed one of those gadgets that spans a couple studs to provide a a sturdy anchor spot for the fan (nothing ruins a quiet introspective evening on the patio, like being Vic Morrow-ed by a collapsing ceiling fan) and that was the hardest part of the job.

Good work!
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This is what we went with.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Harbor-Bre...or-Ceiling-Fan-5-blade-Energy-Star/1000083285
 
Ha. Sitting out here now taking my lunch break from work (work from home most days.)

When a June bug goes flying into one of these it's quite entertaining. Knocked him halfway to the cul-de-sac.
 
rantingredneck said:
We bought this house 4 years ago.

Shortly after moving in I noticed that there were two empty fixture boxes between the recessed lights on the porch and a switch by the front door that didn't seem to do anything. My first though was to put a couple fans there. Well I thought about it for 4 years.... :).

Today after a Father's Day brunch at Reverence Farms we hit Lowe's and picked up a couple wet location appropriate fans.

Got them installed this afternoon. Now to have a little breeze with my bourbon this evening.

View attachment 132360
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My daughter got me a porch swing for Christmas. I was thinking of doing that exact thing myself while sitting out there with Micah the other morning. Nice choice aesthetically, btw. Do you find they help keep the gnats off when they are swarming around, and how high are your porch ceilings?
 
They do help control the mosquitos and gnats. 9 ft ceilings in the ground floor of the house and the porch is maybe plus 2-3" from that. These fans could be mounted flush or with the downrod that was included (4" or so). Or you can buy longer downrods separately. If I were doing it over I would have probably bought an 8" or so downrod. Not sure that I care enough to do it over though.
 
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