Need some help with extractor fan

[chrisjothi]

Right, first thing first, I have a web page containing two pictures I hope will help those who read this post:

http://www.auff11.dsl.pipex.com/extractor.htm

I live in a block of flats in Bournemouth and my extractor fan packed up. It had the following set up.

A switch (basic ON / OFF switch) that is located in the corridor next to the bathroom. It was always switched ON.

The extractor is in the bathroom ceiling. When you pull the cord to the bathroom LIGHT the extractor is also turned on. When you pull the cord, turning the light off, the extractor turns off. Simple.

Now here's the problem; the extractor, about a year ago, for some reason stopped working. I thought it may be the corridor switch, so unscrewed it and basically dismantled all the wires (why, I know!) and now it looks the way it does, a mess. The scary thing is there are LOADS of wires. Two reds, two blues, two yellows, and a separate earth. I don't know which are lives or neutrals.

What do I do with them? The original switch has been thrown away so what should I replace it with? The extractor fan instructions state the extractor needs a 'douple pole fused spur with a 3 AMP fuse'. Can I get that from B&Q?

Then there is the extractor fan. I have replaced the older one (it was quite manky, and the fan didn't seem to turn very easily). Unfortunately I do not know what the RED , BLUE and YELLOW wires are. According to the extractor it is double insulated so does not need an earth (so I can put one of those plastic blocks on the end of the earth, which is all I know to do!).

I do have an eletrical multimeter if that will help (not that I know how to use the bloody thing).

Now I know I can do this, and currently cannot afford the going rate of £60 for an electrician. With a bit of patience and intellectual application I am sure this can all be fixed. If however I cannot get this to work then I'll just have to bite the bullet and pay for a professional to see to it, as I do not want damp building up in my windowless bathroom!

Thank you all for reading this,

Chris

 

[andy]

what you need to do with the switch is replace with a triple pole switch. mark lives and neutrals. at a guess, id say red is perm live, yellow is sw.live and blue is neutral, but dont take my word for it - use the multimeter to check. then connect cables into fan. adding a fuse it bit of a pain in the arse. i assume the lighting circuit is a 6A MCB (/5A fuse)? if so, i would just wire as i have already said. if it comes from any where else (i.e ring main) then youlll have to add the 3A fuse at the point it comes from the ring

 

[nstreet]

Looks like the fan doesn't need a switched live at it only has two connections.

 

[Adam_151]

Get a tripple pole fan Isolator, put both reds to either side of one pole of the switch, same with the blues to another, and the yellows to the last pole, out of neatness, make sure one 3C + E goes to one side of all the poles, and the other 3C+E to the other side of the poles.

Leave the earths connected together in the terminal block as long as the switch is plastic, but if its metal, connect the earths to the earth terminal that it will have

Edit: Read all of the post this time

In the fan, red and earth don't want to be connected to anything, put them both in separate terminal blocks (if the sleeving on the earth covers it totally, you could just fold it over instead of using a term block). Then connect yellow and blue to your fan connections, it doesn't matter which way round they go.

 

[chrisjothi]

Hi, what is a 3C + E?

I bought the triple pole fan isolator.

It has two sets of L1, L2 and N poles, one along the top, and one along the bottom. The manual illustrates that a switched live and N are required to be connected to L1 and N along the bottom. Which do I use, and what do I do with the other wires?

I have established which wire containing the live, switched live and neutral is connected to the light switch as when I turned the light off the switched live went dead, whereas the other wire, containing another set of live, s live and neutral always on, regardless of whether the bathroom light is on or off.

Hope this helps. Thanks for that last post. The extractor fan is now wired up, I just haven't wired the isolator yet.

Chris

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Never mind everyone. I have got it working perfectly. Thank you for the advice.

Chris

 

[Adam_151]

Glad you have got it working now, BTW, 3C + E is 3 core and earth; cable that has three current carrying cores, red, yellow and blue (or brown, black and grey) and an earth