On Sat, 5 Mar 2016 22:38:19 -0500, Alex wrote:

A faucet replacement is easier than a ceiling fan - quicker, too.

The argument I hear in the inspector community is most older homes do
not have "fan rated" ceiling boxes and most home owners do not know
how to tell the difference. A standard ceiling box is rated for a dead
load of 50 pounds. A fan box is rated for a live load of 70 pounds.
(bigger screws, better attachment to structure and the load is carried
by the back of the box, not "ears" that might flex and fracture)

These days with AFCIs those big kludge ceiling boxes are also not as
forgiving. Ceiling fans got a terrible reputation for tripping AFCIs
and it was a bum rap. The problem turned out to be that big red wire
nut with 3 or 4 white wires in it. When you have a regular breaker and
you ground the neutral, you will never notice. If it is a GFCI or AFCI
it will trip immediately. If there is the slightest amount of
conductor exposed, you have a real good chance of it touching the
hickey, part of the box or a bare ground wire. That will usually be an
intermittent failure, maybe only at one fan speed or just when the
vibration lines up the stars right. I normally do not advise taping up
wire nuts but this may be an exception.