20amp switch with neon light - help!

[JohnW2]

Goodness did I write that!!! - Mind gone.I think I thought what I thought I thinked.

No problem - we all do it, but ...

:I was trying to say have you wired the switch upside down (mixing up supply and load) - does the neon come on when the switch is off?

Have you perhaps 'done it again'? If supply and load connections were interchanged, wouldn't the neon then be on all the time, regardless of switch position?

Kind Regards

 

[Jackrae]

Let's assume a total cock-up.
Since you've asked about swapping L and N it's obvious that you are not competent to be doing what you're doing. That doesn't mean of course that you cannot do what you are doing - just that your knowledge is lacking.
The switch will be marked Lin Nin Lout and Nout or something very similar. This is where and the only places where you connect your wires to. "In" means the wires FROM your consumer unit and "out" means the wires TO the immersion.

If you chose to ignore these markings, is there any possibility that you have connected the incoming L and N cores to either the Lin and Lout or the Nin and Nout. If so you will have tripped the MCB/RCB/Fuse in you consumer unit when you closed the switch since this will have placed a direct L to N short on your system.

Apart from the obvious faults with the neon, previously listed, a loss of supply will also cause it to fail to light.

Out of interest, why were you replacing the switch.

 

[JohnW2]

...If you chose to ignore these markings, is there any possibility that you have connected the incoming L and N cores to either the Lin and Lout or the Nin and Nout. If so you will have tripped the MCB/RCB/Fuse in you consumer unit when you closed the switch since this will have placed a direct L to N short on your system.

Indeed, and if he did it whilst just an MCB/fuse has been used to disable the circuit, then touching L and earth might have caused an RCD to operate.

Apart from the obvious faults with the neon, previously listed, a loss of supply will also cause it to fail to light.

Exactly - which is why I 'opened' by asking whether the immersion was now working when switched on - and we don't yet know the answer.

Kind Regards, John

 

[sugarplumlizzie1]

No it doesn't come on at all.

 

[sugarplumlizzie1]

I was replacing it because the old switch had shorted and so the immersion wasn't coming on. The builders had fitted a 13amp switch and the live "in" wire was black and had melted the plastic fitting

I have cut this wire back to remove all the blackened parts. The engineer from the copper cylinder company came out and checked the cylinder. It was he that removed the switch from the wall and told me this was the problem, and advised me to change it myself.

There is no neon light whether the switch is on or off but we still have hot water.

And no, I have no idea what I'm doing, which is why I am asking for help!!

 

[riveralt]

Have you perhaps 'done it again'? If supply and load connections were interchanged, wouldn't the neon then be on all the time, regardless of switch position?

God my head hurts......dark room beckons.......bottle of Brothers Toffee Apple Cider in hand.........

I suppose it is one way to test whether his neon light is broken or not..

 

[JohnW2]

No it doesn't come on at all.

I presume you mean the neon. Pending the time when your water has cooled enough for you to be able to tell if the immersion is working, following up on what Jackrae wrote, have you checked that nothing has 'tripped' in your consumer unit?

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

God my head hurts......dark room beckons.......bottle of Brothers Toffee Apple Cider in hand.........

Given that it's a lovely summer's Friday evening, I was going to suggest that you 'opened a bottle', like I have just done - but it sounds as if you may have beaten me to it

Cheers, John

 

[sugarplumlizzie1]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I've taken your advice and am having a large wine. I will wait and see if there is hot water in the morning

 

[securespark]

.......bottle of Brothers Toffee Apple Cider in hand...........

That's why your head hurts....

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If the heating element is {insert-colloquialism-of-your-choice-for-'no longer working'} then the switch could be wired correctly apart from the neon being between the two L's or two N's, or the neon could be {insert-colloquialism-of-your-choice-for-'broken'}.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

That's why your head hurts....

Nah.

It's the cloudy stuff which starts going brown if you leave it in the glass for too long which makes your head hurt.

 

[sugarplumlizzie1]

Well this morning we still have hot water, and a sporadically on neon light

 

[sparkwright]

If the neon is randomly lighting up, could be a duff switch, bad connection, or the supply is on an off peak supply...

 

[Jackrae]

Then forget about it and pretend you have a switch with no neon.