Help, bathroom extractor fan is causing fuse box to trip!

[doo888]

Hello, I hope someone can help me here to identify what's gone wrong and whether I can fix it myself. Thanks in advance.

Bought a flat a couple of months ago with no problems but was taking a shower yesterday when all the lights cut out along with the extractor fan and all the switches to the entire flat.

The fan is connected to the same cord as the bathroom lights but also has an independent switch outside the bathroom. I flicked the fuse box switch back and all was fine until the extractor fan gets switched on and it trips out again. So, I took the casing off the fan and low and behold, something has blown or, I assume, short circuited (pictures below).

What could have possibly gone wrong? Is there anything I can do to stop the fuse box tripping as soon as I switch the extractor fan (made by 'Newlec') on or is this some major which requires a brand new fan or something even more serious?

As an aside, should I be worried that the yellow/green earth wire isn't connected to anything and is just dangling?!

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[ColJack]

you are joking right?

that black stuff is scorch marks from where the wires / terminals have been getting hot..
quite likely they've melted through and are now touching together.. so it's new fan time ..

 

[1john]

New fan require, and when you swap it over, try and cut the copper ends back so they are in the terminal only, not sticking out of it.

Dont worry about your earth wire (the one in green and yellow sleeving) floating about, there is o place on that fan to connect it, in an ideal world you should remove a little of the sleeving and put a connector block on the end.

 

[doo888]

Many thanks for the reply.

To hopefully prevent this happening again, any idea what would have caused the fan to blow and trip my fuse box?

If it's the wires getting hot and melted through, what would have caused this?

Also, now that the end of the wires are a bit burnt and it's coming from the ceiling, am I going to have to get someone in to put new wiring in? If so, I certainly hope the ceiling doesn't have to be ripped out!!

Thanks in advance.

 

[ColJack]

loose connection or a fault with the fan

there looks to be a bit of slack there so I doubt you'll have to rewire..

 

[LoveRocket]

Just get a new fan and whack it in. As the others have said, cut and restrip the cores so you're connecting to good copper.

Easy.

 

[stillp]

Make sure that the manufacturer's instructions for the replacement state that it is suitable for use in bathrooms. Apparently there are some on the market that are not, and can't handle the condensation.

You don't need to worry about the earth wire not being connected since your fan is Class II ("double insulated") as shown by the concentric squares on the label. You do need to worry that it is just dangling, it could contact something it shouldn't. If your replacement fan is also Class II, terminate the earth wire in a piece of choc-block.

 

[flameport]

When you get a new fan, try to get one which has the terminal board at the top or on one side.
This will prevent any condensation or moisture dripping onto the board / terminals.