Bathroom Fan - wiring question

[Potemkin]

A building firm did the first fix for my bathroom. SInce then, we've had the room tiled and painted. One of the final acts was to wire up the extractor fan, one of the standard run-one types. Here I've hit a problem. The cable installed by the building firm is only two core and earth, whereas the fan requires live in addition to switched live and neutral (i.e. three core cable). Now, recabling is not viable as this would destroy the finish to the room. I have - for now - connected together the switched live and live at the fan which allows it to run albeit without the run-on feature. Here's the question: could I use the earth wire as the live wire? The fan doesn't need to be earthed, so that core is doing nothing. What problems will I run into? Are there any other options? Should I approach the building firm?

Any assistance greatly appreciated,
regards,
Richard

 

[Spark123]

NO, NO, NO, absolutely not!! Never ever use an earth core as a live conductor.

 

[ricicle]

You should not use the bare copper conductor other than as cpc.If this was a specific request to the building firm in the contract then they have not fulfilled it and you should get them to act accordingly

 

[sanj.varah]

get a different fan without the timer, that requires only switched live and neutral.

or run single core from the light fitting to isolator then to the fan.

 

[Potemkin]

I really want to thank you for this wonderful site, and your very kind assistance. Your advice was excellent
Richard

 

[ricicle]

I really want to thank you for this wonderful site, and your very kind assistance. Your advice was excellent
Richard

What was the final outcome?

 

[Potemkin]

I lived with a fan that doesn't run on after switching off the lights. It's a minor annoyance, and rewiring would have required some major surgery to a room that I've just completed...