Removing 2 way light switch

[EFLImpudence]

I'm not convinced that it would necessarily make things much more understandable, but is it not possible that your "Wire X" is the permanent L feed and that the fuse is in the feed to the fan? (although that would probably only make any sense if it were a non-timer fan).

AH HA. I hadn't thought of that.

Yes, it would make sense apart from the fuse would only be for the switched live, which would not be correct.
However, someone could have done that by mistake.
I shall amend my diagram.

 

[JohnW2]

AH HA. I hadn't thought of that. Yes, it would make sense apart from the fuse would only be for the switched live, which would not be correct.

Indeed - which is why I said that it would only 'make sense' (be correct) if it was a non-timer fan - and asked the OP to clarify whether or not that is the case.

Kind Regards, John

 

[deadshort]

Hello,

Hopefully someone will be able to assist me. Please note I have read through other posts on the subject but I am still not 100% sure...

I have a 2 way light switch system to my upstairs bathroom. One in the hallway and a second one in the master bedroom. This is because there is an extra door from the bedroom to the bathroom. I assume this silly solution was to pretend the master bedroom is en-suite

I'm now getting rid of this extra door to make space for a fitted wardrobe so I would like to put a blanking plate on the additional switch.

If possible, what I'd like to do is connect whichever wire need connecting, tape over any remaining ones and fit a blanking plate.

The switch is a 2 gang. One gang for the light and second for the bathroom fan:


Why would you touch the switch you want to remain ? All you have done is confuse the issue on the switch you are removing just :

Connect the bath common and bath L1 together.
Connect the fan common and fan L1 together.
If the switches on the switch you wish to keep operate upside-down just swap the L1's for the L2's
The two redundant 'L's should be put into separate connectors and made safe.

Regards,

DS

Any advice on what to do with the wiring to blank the switch would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[EFLImpudence]

DS - Why would you touch the switch you want to remain ? All you have done is confuse the issue on the switch you are removing just :


Why would you not?

Why would you leave unused, unnecessary wires LIVE?


Normally it would be a simple job, still would be if I was there, so, again, why not?
Then it wouldn't matter what is done at the now disused switch.


Remind me to call someone else.

 

[JohnW2]

Connect the bath common and bath L1 together.
Connect the fan common and fan L1 together.
If the switches on the switch you wish to keep operate upside-down just swap the L1's for the L2's
The two redundant 'L's should be put into separate connectors and made safe.

Where have I read that before? I wonder why you've jumped in late, merely to repeat something which was written (and illustrated) many posts ago.

Kind Regards, John

 

[deadshort]

Well i never ! How dare i ! How very dare i ,100 lines

DS

 

[JohnW2]

Well i never ! how dare i ! how very dare i 100 lines DS

Don't worry about the lines, but it would be nice if you could edit the format of your previous post so that it is more readable by others!

Kind Regards, John

 

[deadshort]

Apologies, i have dyslexia.

DS

 

[liszega]

Gentleman,

Apologies for late reply however I was busy between attending work and fitting the wardrobe. First of all thank you both again for your advice. I have used @JohnW2's method as you suggested its safer and everything works as intended. Great stuff.

Let us know if, after you have done it, there are any odd happenings such as the light only works when the fan is on, something won't turn off, or similar.

Everything works as intended, same functionality as before the second switch removal.

In fact, looking back, I'm not certain that I necessarily understand correctly what he was saying about the current functionality

Sorry for poor explanation. What I meant is that the light and fan work independently, you can have:

1. Fan & light OFF
2. Fan ON & light OFF
3. Light ON & fan OFF
4. Fan & light ON

Hope this makes more sense.

I might expect liszega to come back and say "oops, no, the light switch is next to fuse" but other than that it doesn't make sense.

Nope, its the fan next to the fuse.

liszega: is yours a 'timer' fan - i.e. does it carry on running for a period after it and/or the light is turned off? ... and can you perhaps have another go at explaining how the switches work. In particular, can the fan be turned on (and off) with the fan switch regardless of the positions of the two light switches (all four possible combinations)?

It is a timer fan, however its not one that continues running after the switch is switched off. Its a pull-cord setup. So when I enter the bath I flip the switch on, then pull the fan cord. The timer runs about 15 mins, so if I'm longer in the bath I sometimes have to pull the cord again. When leaving the bath I flip the switch and that switches off the fan immediately.

I understand however what you are asking as my downstairs cloak room fan works that way. There's a single gang fused switch. When switched on, the light and fan come on (no pull cord on that one). When switched off, light goes off but fan continues to run for 30 seconds.

And yes, the fan can be turned on regardless of the light switch position. I already explained possible combinations above.


I happy to answer any further questions. Just let me know and thanks for your help.

 

[JohnW2]

Everything works as intended, same functionality as before the second switch removal.

I'm glad that it's worked out for you.

It is a timer fan, however its not one that continues running after the switch is switched off. Its a pull-cord setup. So when I enter the bath I flip the switch on, then pull the fan cord. The timer runs about 15 mins, so if I'm longer in the bath I sometimes have to pull the cord again. When leaving the bath I flip the switch and that switches off the fan immediately.

OK. That makes sense, and means that the way in which that switch/fuse is wired is OK (i.e. the issue raised by EFLI does not arise), since there is only one live feed to the fan. With additional wiring, the fan could probably be made to work in the same way as your downstairs cloakroom one (i.e. always coming on when the light came on, and remaining on for a period after the light ws switched off, without the need for a pull cord), but that would be a bit of a hassle (would require a new, or additional, cable to the fan) and, as implied by EFLI, would require a tweak of the wiring of the switch/fuse.

Kind Regards, John