I am told it locks in both positions. I will let you know when (if) the electrician gets back to me.
Extractor Fan Isolator Switch????
- Thread starter lordwoody
- Start date
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It says "unlocked" "locked off" on the front.
I can't imagine any one being allowed to sell an isolator which can be locked on.
I can't imagine any one being allowed to sell an isolator which can be locked on.
There those key operated grid switches which can be used as on-off devices ( not strictly isolation ) and there are isolators that can be locked on for vital equipment that must not be accidently ( or by mal intent ) turned off. Only an authorised person with the key is allowed to turn them off.
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Probably because he wasn't one.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/mk-20a-dp-secret-key-switch-metal-clad/29973
This is still the best I can come up with. Would be fine if you were to use a fan with a Humidistat so not switched live, or with a timer & switched live I guess you could just isolate L&SL but this would leave the neutral connected
This is still the best I can come up with. Would be fine if you were to use a fan with a Humidistat so not switched live, or with a timer & switched live I guess you could just isolate L&SL but this would leave the neutral connected
What about if I fit a 3A unswitched spur more than 60cm from any bath. sink, toilet or shower?
This is the fan I am getting....
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/DataSheets/Aidelle/ADAUE_Instructions.pdf
This is the fan I am getting....
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/DataSheets/Aidelle/ADAUE_Instructions.pdf
the instruction manual you linked to includes
If you are charging rent then you have a landlord's duty of care and that includes ensuring the electrical installation is compliant.
If you are charging rent then you have a landlord's duty of care and that includes ensuring the electrical installation is compliant.
So is it OK to have a unswitched Spur outside zones 1 & 2 instead of a Isolator switch?
An electrician will be doing the job not me!
You are not seeing the reason for the isolator are you.
If the fan comes defective or a hazard and HAS to be isolated then without a 3 pole isolator the only way to remove the hazard is to turn off the lighting circuit at the CU. Do you want ( can you allow ) your tenants to live in a house with no lights until the fan is repaired.
If the fan comes defective or a hazard and HAS to be isolated then without a 3 pole isolator the only way to remove the hazard is to turn off the lighting circuit at the CU. Do you want ( can you allow ) your tenants to live in a house with no lights until the fan is repaired.
The fuse might blow. That leaves the switched live still connected.
The fault might cause the RCB to trip, that would not blow the fuse.
Your choice. take the risk and hope nothing happens.
The fault might cause the RCB to trip, that would not blow the fuse.
Your choice. take the risk and hope nothing happens.
That's a rather odd one, which I don't recall having seen before, and it's not even very clear what they mean. Instructions commonly call for a 3A fuse and a 3-pole isolator. I would think one would be very hard presed to find a "3A fused isolator"!
This also raises an issue that I've often thought about. The instructions often say something about the fan having to be protected by a 3A fuse but (unless they include wiring diagrams, which many don't) usually say nothing about whether it is adequate to protect only the permanent live and not also the switched live. We've debated before why the 3A fuse requirement exists, and can but presume that it's to offer some protection to the innards of the fan (since it usually would not be required to protect the cable), because the manufacturer hasn't bothered to include internal protection. Admittedly, the switched live usually just goes through a high value resistor (usually 100-200kΩ
to the trigger circuit, but that doesn't mean that a fault (e.g. in the resistor) could not arise.If one’s main concern were that a faulty fan would result in lighting being lost until the fan were repaired/replaced, then that could be addressed, in virtually all situations, by a (DP) switched 3A FCU (as called for by many manufacturers) supplying the permanent live (and neutral) of the fan. Although not impossible, it’s very unlikely that a fault (e.g. one resulting in an RCD operating) would arise in relation to the switched live – and in all other circumstances, the DP switch of the FCU would allow the lighting to remain on until the fan was dealt with. Proper isolation (i.e. at CU) of the lighting circuit would obviously be necessary when working on the fan, since the FCU would not remove the switched live feed from the fan. For that reason, a warning to that effect probably ought to be attached to the FCU whenever (as I suspect is common) a SFCU is used for the L, but not S/L of the fan.
Kind Regards, John
About the only way round it that I can see is to use a DP light switch, one pole switching the light and the other pole switching the fan trigger. The light not via the FCU, and the fan trigger, fan live and N through the FCU.
How could you get "the fan trigger, fan live an N through the FCU"? At best, only one of the two L's would be fused. If you used the DP switch of an SFCU to switch the two L's, then the N wouldn't be switched - hence not true isolation.
If one wanted to do it, I think that the simplest way to get 3A fuse protection and to have an isolator for the fan (which would allow lights tooperate with a faulty fan isolated) would be to have the FCU supplying the light (and its switch), and then take L, S/L and N from that circuit via a 3-pole isolator to the fan. However, maybe it's just my lack of experience/exposure, but I've never come across anyone actually doing that! However, as I said, I think it's the simplest way to get 3A fuse protection for the S and S/L (plus the facility for fan isolation), if that's what one wants to achieve. The only alternative I can think of would involve two FCUs (with the potential hazard that people might not realise that there were two, both of which had to be switched off to remove all L from the fan) plus an isolator.
Kind Regards, John
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