Electrical wiring question

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is it OK to ground it to the old box similar to how the light fixture was?

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You can hook the ground wire to it if you want, but that doesn’t do anything since you stated the box wasn’t grounded.


Also, more than likely you will need to remove that electrical box and replace it with one that’s designed for ceiling fans (connected to ceiling joists). The once you currently have more than likely cannot handle the weight of a fan.

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both the neutral and the hot wire were both white coming out of the box to give you an idea of the age of house wiring. I marked the hot so I don't cross things up.

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We had this in one of our sconces, except the neutral and hot wires were both labeled opposite of their colors.

But yes as mentioned, you'll need the box grounded before you wire it up.

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I need to hook up the ground for the fan, is it OK to ground it to the old box similar to how the light fixture was? Also, both the neutral and the hot wire were both white coming out of the box to give you an idea of the age of house wiring. I marked the hot so I don't cross things up.

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As others have mentioned, you can land the ground wire from the fan on the old electrical box but it won't be properly grounded since the box isn't grounded.

The ground wire gives a safe path for electricity to travel in an event of a fault. So you're essentially just trying to get the ground from the fan back to your panel. As another poster said, it may require running a new wire to get that ground if you don't currently have one.

Do NOT tap the ground wire into the neutral. The neutral is considered a "current-carrying conductor" whereas the ground is not. The ground will only have electricity running through it in the event of a fault.