Fitting a bathroom ceiling fan.

[amfisted]

I'm looking to fit a ceiling fan in the bathroom of our new home to provide some extra ventilation. In our last house we had one which was connected to the lighting circuit and which remained on for a couple of minutes after the light was switched off. As I recall from having replaced that ceiling fan twice(and each time simply following the layout of the old wiring rather than fully understanding what I was doing) it connects to the lighting circuit via a step down, but having never actually fitted this type of ceiling fan from scratch I could do a refresher course on how the components are wired.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[AndyPRK]

They don't all have step down transformers.

They need to have a permanent and switch live supply, so usually its best to take a cable from the bathroom light (via a 3 pole fan isolator switch) to the fan.

Check you have the permeant live at the light (usually if there are losts of wire you have). If you have downlighter spots it maybe a problem

 

[Taylortwocities]

It is all laid out for you in the wonderful WIKI

//www.diynot.com/wiki/Electrics:fan

 

[ban-all-sheds]

simply following the layout of the old wiring rather than fully understanding what I was doing

A seriously ill-advised basis for doing electrical work.

• http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=electrical+circuits+101
  
  
• http://kevinboone.net/electricity.html
  
  
• http://web.archive.org/web/20080213151445/http://www.kevinboone.com/domesticinstallations.html
  
  
• //www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:books
  
  
• //www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics
  
  

 

[amfisted]

Thanks all for your replies.

I must stress that my forays into electrical work are very rare indeed, and I will only undertake only the most basic of tasks. Before doing anything I make a point of asking someone with professional knowledge, hence my request for assistance on this forum.

In the case of the previous ceiling fan replacements my initial decision to follow existing wiring was endorsed by responses to questions posed here and on other forums, and thus I had confidence that I was taking the correct action; although the REASONS why my action in that case proved to be correct were to me, as a layman, not absolutely clear. Clearly, joining a cable of a particular colour to another of the same hue seems logical, but doesn't imply or impart a knowledge of electrical circuits. If the advice had been "leave it alone", or "do it this way" and I didn't understand the response, I certainly would not have gone ahead and simply "followed existing wiring" as a general rule.

However, I appreciate the caution.