Change bathroom switch to separate light and fan.

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Change bathroom switch to separate light and fan.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

2147 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2213744 9-Apr-2019 17:51

Paul1977:

Well, it turns out this is not wired as expected at all.

The fan must be looped directly from the light batten after all, as when I disconnect one of the reds from "1" nothing worked, and when I tried the other both fan and light worked.

So I can't do what I want without an electrician, and I am left wondering what the extra wires hooked up to the switch are actually for... which makes me a little nervous as the only thing that happens when I turn on the switch is that the light and fan start - so what are these other wires powering?

As it stands I've put it all back how it was before I started looking.

Seems like I was right on the money with my educated guess that the fan was wired from the existing light rather than from the light switch.

Kickinbac

427 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2213798 9-Apr-2019 18:33

Paul1977:
Well, it turns out this is not wired as expected at all.

The fan must be looped directly from the light batten after all, as when I disconnect one of the reds from "1" nothing worked, and when I tried the other both fan and light worked.

So I can't do what I want without an electrician, and I am left wondering what the extra wires hooked up to the switch are actually for... which makes me a little nervous as the only thing that happens when I turn on the switch is that the light and fan start - so what are these other wires powering?

As it stands I've put it all back how it was before I started looking.

When the wire was disconnected did you check the lights work in adjacent rooms? Could it be the power loop to the next room?

Paul1977

5042 posts

Uber Geek

#2213807 9-Apr-2019 18:54

Kickinbac: When the wire was disconnected did you check the lights work in adjacent rooms? Could it be the power loop to the next room?

I didn't, but I got up in the ceiling and followed the cables. You are correct, it's looped to the laundry and toilet.

However the switch appears to be wired backwards with phase going into "1" and the light and loop to other lights coming out of "C". It's meant to be the other way around isn't it?

Paul1977

5042 posts

Uber Geek

#2213813 9-Apr-2019 18:57

gregmcc:

Seems like I was right on the money with my educated guess that the fan was wired from the existing light rather than from the light switch.

As it turns out, you sure were.

Brunzy

2016 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2213816 9-Apr-2019 19:04

Ceiling fed , I believe.

gregmcc

2147 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2213823 9-Apr-2019 19:20

Paul1977:

Kickinbac: When the wire was disconnected did you check the lights work in adjacent rooms? Could it be the power loop to the next room?

I didn't, but I got up in the ceiling and followed the cables. You are correct, it's looped to the laundry and toilet.

However the switch appears to be wired backwards with phase going into "1" and the light and loop to other lights coming out of "C". It's meant to be the other way around isn't it?

Good practice says power in to "C", lights in "1", from an electrical safety view/operational view it makes no difference.

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18659 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2214351 10-Apr-2019 13:04

Paul1977:

Well, it turns out this is not wired as expected at all.

The fan must be looped directly from the light batten after all, as when I disconnect one of the reds from "1" nothing worked, and when I tried the other both fan and light worked.

So I can't do what I want without an electrician, and I am left wondering what the extra wires hooked up to the switch are actually for... which makes me a little nervous as the only thing that happens when I turn on the switch is that the light and fan start - so what are these other wires powering?

As it stands I've put it all back how it was before I started looking.

Interesting. Not what I expected but full points to those who pegged it. Also to you for knowing when to quit. I'm sorry you were not able to do what you wanted, but now you know and I think you went about it in exactly the right way. It always pays to be cautious with something like this. If you want to pursue it, you really will need a proper electrician, and it sounds like it might also involve some building work. It might not be worth it.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

GoodSync

GoodSync. Easily back up and sync your files with GoodSync. Simple and secure file backup and synchronisation software will ensure that your files are never lost (affiliate link).

Paul1977

5042 posts

Uber Geek

#2214358 10-Apr-2019 13:14

Rikkitic:

Interesting. Not what I expected but full points to those who pegged it. Also to you for knowing when to quit. I'm sorry you were not able to do what you wanted, but now you know and I think you went about it in exactly the right way. It always pays to be cautious with something like this. If you want to pursue it, you really will need a proper electrician, and it sounds like it might also involve some building work. It might not be worth it.

It could be easily done by a sparky without any building work, but it's not enough of an annoyance to us to pay someone to change it.

At least I've learned a few things from the exercise.

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#2214359 10-Apr-2019 13:20

Paul1977:

Rikkitic:

Interesting. Not what I expected but full points to those who pegged it. Also to you for knowing when to quit. I'm sorry you were not able to do what you wanted, but now you know and I think you went about it in exactly the right way. It always pays to be cautious with something like this. If you want to pursue it, you really will need a proper electrician, and it sounds like it might also involve some building work. It might not be worth it.

It could be easily done by a sparky without any building work, but it's not enough of an annoyance to us to pay someone to change it.

At least I've learned a few things from the exercise.

Be quite an easy fix if it's simple enough to just get a piece of cable from the fan to the switch flush box.

Paul1977

5042 posts

Uber Geek

#2214364 10-Apr-2019 13:29

chevrolux:

Paul1977:

Rikkitic:

Interesting. Not what I expected but full points to those who pegged it. Also to you for knowing when to quit. I'm sorry you were not able to do what you wanted, but now you know and I think you went about it in exactly the right way. It always pays to be cautious with something like this. If you want to pursue it, you really will need a proper electrician, and it sounds like it might also involve some building work. It might not be worth it.

It could be easily done by a sparky without any building work, but it's not enough of an annoyance to us to pay someone to change it.

At least I've learned a few things from the exercise.

Be quite an easy fix if it's simple enough to just get a piece of cable from the fan to the switch flush box.

Getting cable to it would be easy as there's a straight drop down the wall. But I'm fuzzy on the rules about home owners running new cable, so will probably just flag it.

Bung

6478 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#2214369 10-Apr-2019 13:51

New cable would be an alteration that needs inspection before livening. On a risk basis it seems borderline as you can relocate fittings as long as the original cable is TPS.

gregmcc

2147 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2214547 10-Apr-2019 18:01

Paul1977:

chevrolux:

Paul1977:

Rikkitic:

Interesting. Not what I expected but full points to those who pegged it. Also to you for knowing when to quit. I'm sorry you were not able to do what you wanted, but now you know and I think you went about it in exactly the right way. It always pays to be cautious with something like this. If you want to pursue it, you really will need a proper electrician, and it sounds like it might also involve some building work. It might not be worth it.

It could be easily done by a sparky without any building work, but it's not enough of an annoyance to us to pay someone to change it.

At least I've learned a few things from the exercise.

Be quite an easy fix if it's simple enough to just get a piece of cable from the fan to the switch flush box.

Getting cable to it would be easy as there's a straight drop down the wall. But I'm fuzzy on the rules about home owners running new cable, so will probably just flag it.

There are a number of factors, is the current hole that the cables go down big enough?

If not is there enough ceiling space for drill and extension bits to drill a new hole down.

As currently there is no earth (or sign of it at the switch) a new earth will have to be run back to the fuse board

So it's not really straight forward......

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18659 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2214553 10-Apr-2019 18:22

Surely the electrician who installed the fan would have earthed it?

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

gregmcc

2147 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2214554 10-Apr-2019 18:26

Rikkitic:

Surely the electrician who installed the fan would have earthed it?

You would think, but common practice to not connect an earth to ceiling extract fans as usually they don't require one, if the original circuit didn't have an earth wire

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2215204 11-Apr-2019 18:43

chevrolux:
Be quite an easy fix if it's simple enough to just get a piece of cable from the fan to the switch flush box.

Unfortunately I think that's how 95% of all dodgy wiring ends up being done:

Be quite an easy fix if it's simple enough to just get a piece of cable from $source to $dest

Not saying the OP will put in dodgy wiring, but a general observation on the recipe used for dodgy wiring. With an optional side order of "we can take a tap from $this_wire_here" or "we can reuse $random_colour_wire we have lying around".

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5