work of a cowboy?

jonner · 25 Jul 2004

Hi,

My bathroom extractor fan comes on when the light pull-switch is switched on; the fan then goes off some time after the lights are switched off.

Okay. There's a switched fcu in the bathroom - this isolates the fan. Since the switch is actually in the way (from a decorating point of view), as well as being in the bathroom, I wanted to move it to outside the room.

Okay so far. When I come to open the fcu, this is what I see - 2 cables going in, both of which are 3+E. Earth cores are connected to the earth terminal, and the yellow wires are twisted together with some kind of cover over the ends. The L and N are connected to the L and N supply and load terminals. I then notice that the fcu is carrying a 13A fuse.

Is this all very wrong? Any ideas for the best course of action?

Cheers.

supersparks · 25 Jul 2004

what you have is a fan with timer over run.
what you describe is ok, but wrong part used as it should be a 3pole isolator not 2pole FCU as when switched off it still leaves yellow unbroken.
leave the isolator where it is and change the switch to a 3pole fan isolator.

jonner · 25 Jul 2004

what's the yellow for? is it to do with the timer overrun? And should the 13A fuse be there?

supersparks · 25 Jul 2004

jonner said:
what's the yellow for? is it to do with the timer overrun? And should the 13A fuse be there?

13amp fuse is just there as a link

the yellow is the unswitched supply to the fan for the timered over run

jonner · 25 Jul 2004

13amp fuse is just there as a link

Thanks, ss, so does that mean there is no actual fuse?

securespark · 26 Jul 2004

The yellow in theory could be switched live or for that matter, neutral.

What is important is to replace the fcu with a triple pole isolator (if it is not in zone 3, you should use a pullcord triple pole iso or move it outside the zones), and ideally id the conductors so you know what each colour is and label them accordingly.

As long as you have the same colour on either side of the iso switch, you should be OK.

jonner · 26 Jul 2004

hi, sorry to be a pain. Something like this??

cheers.

ban-all-sheds · 26 Jul 2004

securespark said:
What is important is to replace the fcu with a triple pole isolator (if it is not in zone 3, you should use a pullcord triple pole iso or move it outside the zones)

AFAIK, it has to be in Zone 3, or outside the Zones, whatever type of switch it is. The reason that pullcords are so common is that our bathrooms tend to be small, and therefore a pull-switch can be mounted above Zone 2, and the cord can hang down into Zone 2.

jonner · 26 Jul 2004

Thanks b-a-s.

well, I figure it is in Zone3, being more than 0.6m away from the side of the bathtub. Only just, though. The existing switch makes me a bit nervous since it's a surface-mounted box that's not technically mounted to anything - it's just dangling from the two cables that go into the box!! Also, the bathroom is fairly small and gets quite steamy. So, since I'm decorating the bathroom anyway, I thought it may be a good time to do something about it.

So, would you say a 3 pole pullswitch sounds like a safe replacement?

ban-all-sheds · 26 Jul 2004

jonner said:
Thanks b-a-s.

well, I figure it is in Zone3, being more than 0.6m away from the side of the bathtub. Only just, though.

The existing switch makes me a bit nervous since it's a surface-mounted box that's not technically mounted to anything - it's just dangling from the two cables that go into the box!!

You are right to be nervous - that should be fixed asap.

Also, the bathroom is fairly small and gets quite steamy. So, since I'm decorating the bathroom anyway, I thought it may be a good time to do something about it.

The fan should fix the steaminess. What size are you using?

So, would you say a 3 pole pullswitch sounds like a safe replacement?

Yup.

jonner · 27 Jul 2004

The fan should fix the steaminess. What size are you using?

What I can see is an Aidelle extractor, it's a box, 17cm in each dimension, that protrudes into the room from the ceiling. On one side is a vent. The outside wall is about 2m away.

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work of a cowboy?

supersparks

supersparks

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