Instructions For Hanging Chain Lights

Chandeliers and other chain lights can improve the aesthetics of a room, but if you hang them without providing sufficient support, they can break your ceiling. Hanging a chain light can be an easy do-it-yourself project, as long as you have some knowledge of light installation and ensure that you use an electrical box that can handle the light's weight.

Electrical Boxes

An electrical box is the box which connects the electrical wiring in your home to light fixtures and other appliances. Chain lights are hung from the ceiling, so you need to use a ceiling box instead of the standard electrical boxes found in walls. Some rooms will already have a ceiling box that you can use. In other rooms, you can have an electrician wire in a new box, or you can add a box on your own and connect it to another power source in the room. Do not add a box on your own unless you are familiar with electrical wiring and amateur electrical wiring is legal in your area. Installing electrical boxes without proper training is dangerous.

Check your electrical box to make sure it can support the weight of your chain light. Most ceiling boxes can support up to 50 pounds. If the box can not support your light's weight, you can replace it with a stronger box, or add a fan brace box. A fan brace box is designed to provide additional support for ceiling fans and lights. It can be attached around an electrical box without having to widen the hole in the ceiling.

Hanging the Light

Before hanging the light, hold it up to the ceiling to see how low it will hang. If the light is too low, you can raise it by removing links from the chain. Pull the links apart and connect them back together using pliers.

The chain of a chain light does not hook directly onto the ceiling, but is instead attached to a mount. The mount will have wires coming out of it, and a section for screws. The instructions for your chain light will include information labeling each of the wires. Connect the wires to the electrical box as explained in the instruction manual. It is important to use the instructions for this step, because the wires in various light fixtures do not all look the same.

The mount of the chain light can be screwed directly into the electrical box. For some lamps, it may be easier to attach the mount to the box before wiring the light, but other lamps have designs which make this difficult to do. Either order will work.

Tags: chain light, electrical wiring, ceiling Hanging, ceiling instead, electrical boxes