Bathroom Extractor Fan confusion!

[willmead]

Hi

I am trying to replace a bathroom extractor fan in my girlfriends bathroom. We have just moved in and understand the previous owner never had the fan working. There is no switch so i can only assume it is cord activated. I have taken the old fan off the wall, expecting to have to disconnect from the mains but when i got the fan off there did not seem to be any obvious electrical connection! (I am no electrician!) There is random wiring in a socket a few inches away from the fan but i see no connection between the two?

I have posted some pictures in case this helps explain the problem.

1.

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• willmead
• 6 Mar 2013
• 1

The two holes in the wall where the socket and fan were.

2.

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• willmead
• 6 Mar 2013
• 1

The Fan

3.

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• willmead
• 6 Mar 2013
• 1

The Fan

4.

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• willmead
• 6 Mar 2013
• 1

The Socket

5.

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• willmead
• 6 Mar 2013
• 1

The plate that was covering the wired socket

I was intending on buying a new fan and connecting it up. I am now a bit confused on how i will do this. Does anyone have any advice or do i need to get an electrician in?

Thanks

 

[Taylortwocities]

If there is no cable to the fan it is going to need one!

Whether the box contains what is required for the fan (lighting circuit live, neutral and switched live) can only be determined with a test meter and its impossible to say from the picture, even if you cleaned away the cobwebs so we can see the connections!

If you do not have test equipment, you're going to need an electrician to determine which type of fan you need, and to fit it for you.

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

Looks to me as though at some time there was a length of flex exiting through the front of that plate and entering the fan through a knockout on the bottom.

 

[securespark]

Well, there's two main problems!

1. The wires are not connected to each other (assuming that is for the fan).

2. The fan is not connected to any wires.

Where is the switch box in relation to shower or bath?

EDIT: KINELL!

Yeah, Scoby's sharper-eyed than me!

The plate is a flex outlet, where the fixed wiring would be attached to the terminals along with a flex, which would come out of the middle and into the fan.

Looking at the fan, there seems to be a small notch where the flex went in.

You need to check if the fan still works and whether it is a timer model or not.

If it does not work, you'll need a new one. Again, is it near the bath or shower?

Then you'll need to ID which wires are which and which you need to attach to the fan. If it's a timer fan (or you're fitting a new timer fan), you'll need a short length of four core 0.75 flex. You won't need the earth, but connect it at the box end anyway. You can't use 3 core, in case you're wondering, as you can't use the earth as a live conductor.

 

[willmead]

Brilliant. Thanks for the swift replies. So from what I understand, a peice of cable ran from the socket to the fan and it looks to have entered through a small hole in the top of the fan. For what ever reason, someone has disconnected the wiring. The fan is situated about half a metre above the showr head and a similar distance away horizontally. I am intending on buying a new fan as I broke a few bits of plastic removing the old fan. Any recommendations on what I need?

Is the testing tool required expensive? I am happy to attempt the wiring etc myself.

What sort of cost should I expect to pay if I fail miserably and need the electrician to come in and sort the problem?

Thanks again.

 

[rjm2k]

Is the testing tool required expensive? I am happy to attempt the wiring etc myself.

You can get a multimeter for about a tenner from amazon/ebay/wilkinsons etc

Can you show a photo of the inside of the lightswitch for that room and the ceiling rose for the light?

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

Can you show a photo of the inside of the lightswitch for that room and the ceiling rose for the light?

And get the bloody cobwebs out of the back box and re-take a picture!! . Preferably from a couple of angles so we get a better view of both sides of the choc block (connector)

Regards new fan, The size is dictated by the hole in the wall. Then you have three types. Ones that go on & off with the light only. Ones that will come on with the light but stay on after its switched off (timed) for an adjustable time period. And ones that work on the (adjustable) relative humidity in the room and will run on (adjustable) for a pre determined time.

 

[securespark]

From what I can see, it looks like there's a T&E and a 3C&E in there.

The reds are together, the blue & black are together & the yellow is on its own.

The cpc's are connected to the back box terminal.

That might be wrong, though, because that's not logical, Jim.

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

I was wondering if there was a little bridge cable hiding behind the web.

I bet someone in the past has gone in there inebriated, staggered, grabbed the cable to steady themselves and pulled the cable out.

 

[willmead]

I had not appreciated the importance of the wiring in the back box! I will take some more detailed pictures when i get home later this evening after i have got the duster out!

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

Hi

I am trying to replace a bathroom extractor fan in my girlfriends bathroom.

Brilliant. Thanks for the swift replies.

I wonder who will be grabbing all the kudos for fixing the fan from the girlfriend??

No.

NO!! Don't worry about me sleeping lonely on a broken bench under the flyover. You can keep your nice warm bed to yourselves. I'm happy with my lot!

 

[Johnmelad]

Hi

I am trying to replace a bathroom extractor fan in my girlfriends bathroom.

Brilliant. Thanks for the swift replies.

I wonder who will be grabbing all the kudos for fixing the fan from the girlfriend??

No.

NO!! Don't worry about me sleeping lonely on a broken bench under the flyover. You can keep your nice warm bed to yourselves. I'm happy with my lot!

 

[willmead]

Hi. Sorry for the delay with the pictures. I have been out and bought myself a DX100T Xpelair with a timer. The instructions/manual talk about using 3 core flex to wire the fan. I think I understand how to mount the fan and where the wire runs in general......the problem is what wires go into which connectors?! I tried to look for 4 core flex but Screwfix didnt have any!

1.

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• willmead
• 8 Mar 2013
• 1

Circuit instructions
2.

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• willmead
• 8 Mar 2013
• 1

Inside of the fan
3.

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• willmead
• 8 Mar 2013
• 1

Inside of the fan 2
4.

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• willmead
• 8 Mar 2013
• 1

Back Box pulled out
5.

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• willmead
• 8 Mar 2013
• 1

Wires going into connector

Any clues??!!

Thanks

 

[securespark]

Have you got a multimeter?

I can guess, but you need to be sure.

The reds could be the live, the yellow the switched live and the black/blue the neutral.

As I said before, you'll need a short length of 4 core flex to link the fan to the flex outlet.

Connect the earth wire inside the metal box but don't connect it inside the fan. Put a connector block on the end to make sure it's not touching anything.

Is that back box 16mm?

That's a bit stingy: take care you don't trap any wires when everything goes back, especially behind the fixing screws.

In fact, use the terminals on the flex outlet to minimise the number of terminal blocks you need then there'll be more room in the back box.