Faulty extractor fan

[JB8888]

Hello,

We moved into a new property 5 months ago and there is an extractor fan in the bathroom that has never worked. This weekend I decided to have a crack at fixing or replacing it. I'm new to DIY so bear with me here!

Firstly, there is no isolator switch for this fan as far as I can tell. I've looked everywhere including climbing up into the loft.

I took apart the new fan and there was a blue wire, and brown wire and then a wire that had been stripped coming out of the wall. I know that blue is neutral and brown is live and from my limited reading I THINK the stripped wire is the 'switched live' wire which has something to do with the timer? The neutral and live wires were connected to the fan itself but the stripped wire was not.

There was no earth wire - should there be?

Anyway, I wired in the new fan, linked the three available wires as follows:

Blue wire: N
Brown: L
Stripped: SL

Turned the light on and nothing happened. Is it possible these wires have been completely disconnected from the mains or have I made a rookie error somewhere?

 

[suffolkspark]

The bare wire is the cpc aka the earth. Just wants sleeving and putting in a connector out the way. Yes blue is neutral, and brown is line/live. Link that terminal to the switch line terminal and it should work, it wont run on and probably didnt have those terminals linked before hense not working

 

[telectrix]

agree with above.probably not wired for a timer fan, so link the L an S/L terminals with a bit of wire

 

[JB8888]

The bare wire is the cpc aka the earth. Just wants sleeving and putting in a connector out the way. Yes blue is neutral, and brown is line/live. Link that terminal to the switch line terminal and it should work, it wont run on and probably didnt have those terminals linked before hense not working

Thanks for your reply! There is already a wire coming out of the terminal going into something labelled SL on the new fan (there wasn't on the old fan).

So I just tried again and now the earth wire has been tucked away and the neutral and live wires have been placed in the neutral and live ports in the terminal.

Coming out the other side of the terminal is a blue neutral wire, a brown live wire and a black one labelled SL which is now opposite an empty space on the terminal (where I previously and incorrectly had the earth wire).

Still isn't being triggered by the light. Should there be an input to that empty terminal?

 

[suffolkspark]

You need to put an additional little link wire yourself between the switch live terminal and the live terminal that has your brown wire in.. this is obviously all assuming you have voltage present

 

[telectrix]

You need to put an additional little link wire yourself between the switch live terminal and the live terminal that has your brown wire in.. this is obviously all assuming you have voltage present

i told him that in post#3.

 

[suffolkspark]

We both did, so thought third time lucky he might do it ? at least the bloody cpc is now out of the SL hole

 

[ipf]

I'm just hoping he's isolated the circuit...
It may be just s/l and n......but how is he supposed to know that?
A bit scary when folks talk about using a stripped wire as s/live.

 

[telectrix]

I'm just hoping he's isolated the circuit...
It may be just s/l and n......but how is he supposed to know that?
A bit scary when folks talk about using a stripped wire as s/live.

builders and bathroom fitters do it all the time. think it's the fact they don't understand 3 core. with a pint of beer in hand, they only got a thumb and 1 finger to count with.

 

[JB8888]

I'm just hoping he's isolated the circuit...
It may be just s/l and n......but how is he supposed to know that?
A bit scary when folks talk about using a stripped wire as s/live.

Yes don't worry I isolated the circuit. I'm a first time buyer and ashamed to say I have zero experience or knowledge of this kind of thing which is why i'm trying to learn some practical life skills - hence attempting this myself so I can learn and not be so useless in future! Thanks for your help it is appreciated
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We both did, so thought third time lucky he might do it ? at least the bloody cpc is now out of the SL hole

Thank you, yes it's out ?.
As mentioned I'm a complete newbie here. There are wires for the fan itself also going into the terminal so I thought perhaps you meant that. I now realise you meant I should put a wire into the empty SL terminal and put the other end into the live terminal along with the brown wire - so two wires in one hole - is that right?

I'm well aware I'm useless at DIY, I'm trying my best to learn some practical life skills hence joining this forum. I really appreciate your help and time!

 

[suffolkspark]

Yes that's right, dont worry at least you came here for advice, let us know how u get on

 

[ipf]

Any photos? Let's see.

 

[telectrix]

is it working yet?

 

[JB8888]

Any photos? Let's see.

Any photos? Let's see.

This is what it looks like at the moment. I don't have spare wire so won't be attempting any more tonight. Probably a stupid question but are there different types of wire I need to conscious of?

Also, as mentioned there is no isolator switch for this fan so I'm assuming it is just linked to the lights witch if it works at all. Is this safe? Thanks again everyone.

 

[SJD]

You possibly need a link from the live to switch live terminals for it to work.

And there is too much exposed copper showing on the L & N cables where they enter the terminals.

 

[telectrix]

This is what it looks like at the moment. I don't have spare wire so won't be attempting any more tonight. Probably a stupid question but are there different types of wire I need to conscious of?

Also, as mentioned there is no isolator switch for this fan so I'm assuming it is just linked to the lights witch if it works at all. Is this safe? Thanks again everyone.

sleeve that earth wire and put in a block connector. then link L to S/L (terminals 1 and 3) with a bit of 1.0mm wire. cut those existing cable ends back a bit so that when fitted, there's no copper showing.

 

[suffolkspark]

Just snip a little more off the bare ends and put back in terminals so theres not so much bare copper on show, you need 1.0mm cable, could give that one a gentle tug to see if you can gain a few inches on it to snip a bit of brown off, needs a slight tidy up anyway as the blue is nicked

 

[telectrix]

as the blue is nicked.

wasn'tthis Scouser. honest.

 

[JB8888]

You possibly need a link from the live to switch live terminals for it to work.

And there is too much copper showing on the L & N cables where they enter the terminals.

Thanks, yes we established

sleeve that earth wire and put in a block connector. then link L to S/L with a bit of 1.0mm wire. cut those existing cable ends back a bit so that when fitted, there's no copper showing.

Excellent thanks. Don't have either of those to hand so will do another try to do it by torchlight one evening this week. If not the weekend so don't assume the worst if you don't hear from me for a few days ?.

What do you think about isolator switch? Is it safer/better to have one in this case or do you think its OK as it is?

Thanks so much for your help

 

[telectrix]

isolator switch would be trhere to isolate fan for maintenance and still have a working light. if you can see to work on the fan without the bathroom light on, there's no need.