DIY electrical advice... bathroom pull switch.

[MontyVeda]

The pull switch for my bathroom light has been a bit iffy for a number of years. Yesterday it finally went... the light wouldn't turn off.

Today i bought a new pull switch from Screwfix, fitted it and... the light still won't turn off.

There's another pull switch for the extractor fan, which is linked to the shower and the bathroom light (fan won't operate unless the bathroom light is on). When the fan is off, the bathroom light turns off and on normally. When the fan is on, the light is on on both sides of the switch (if that makes sense).

Not sure why this is happening all of a sudden. The shower and fan were fitted years ago and the bathroom light worked normally regardless of whether or not the fan was on or off.

I definitely replaced like-for-like (eg, i've not put a one-way switch in where a two-way was). There's only two wires coming out of the ceiling; red goes to 'com', black goes to L2 (no earth).

Any ideas? Is it a house fire waiting to happen??

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Looks like you need to follow up on the other connections to the fan and light. Most probably you didn't need a new switch at all but at least you've eliminated that as the cause now

 

[MontyVeda]

Looks like you need to follow up on the other connections to the fan and light. Most probably you didn't need a new switch at all but at least you've eliminated that as the cause now

probably beyond my DIY skills... the old switch was somewhat knackered as it could take a good ten seconds to flick to off or on after being pulled.

What's now baffling me is why the position of the fan switch didn't affect the bathroom light a few days ago, but now it does. No recent electrical work has been done so the wiring on the top side of the ceiling will be the same as it's always been.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Remove and test the extractor fan pull switch with a multi-tester or some wires, a battery and bulb. You have a spare should you need it.

 

[MontyVeda]

Remove and test the extractor fan pull switch with a multi-tester or some wires, a battery and bulb. You have a spare should you need it.

My electrical skills are very basic... so i'm not sure what I'd be testing, although i do have a cheap continuity tester.

I've just checked if the extractor fan works, which should come on when the light, fan switch and shower are all on, and the fan isn't working, so that's probably the cause of the fault. ...so thank you for that

fortunately i rent so a call to the landlady is all that's needed for anything beyond me.

 

[pjd57]

Sounds like you need an electrician.

Is there a local neighborhood Facebook page you can ask on ?

Had a lighting problem last week which I couldn't solve.
Local guy was in and out in minutes.....£10

 

[Yellow Saddle]

My electrical skills are very basic... so i'm not sure what I'd be testing, although i do have a cheap continuity tester.

I've just checked if the extractor fan works, which should come on when the light, fan switch and shower are all on, and the fan isn't working, so that's probably the cause of the fault. ...so thank you for that

fortunately i rent so a call to the landlady is all that's needed for anything beyond me.

Testing a pull switch is basic. It has to connectors. Put one end of your continuity tester into one end, the other end into the other end. Play with the switch. The tester should light up/beep or do whatever jive it does when there is current. I bet that the old switch is still good.

 

[sheddy]

reinstall the old switch and call your landlady ?

 

[stephec]

[QUOTE 5447097, member: 9609"]did the light go off at all when you removed the old switch and refitted the new one?[/QUOTE]
You've got to hope that he isolated it at the box before changing the switch.

 

[MontyVeda]

[QUOTE 5447097, member: 9609"]did the light go off at all when you removed the old switch and refitted the new one?[/QUOTE]
it did when I turned off the lighting circuit, before changing the switch.

 

[MontyVeda]

Testing a pull switch is basic. It has to connectors. Put one end of your continuity tester into one end, the other end into the other end. Play with the switch. The tester should light up/beep or do whatever jive it does when there is current. I bet that the old switch is still good.

Old switch is defo on its way out. Has been for years. It doesn't click when pulling the cord... then it does, then it might, then it waits a handful of seconds before it clicks. A good dousing in contact cleaner would probably sort it, but at £3 for a new one...

 

[User6179]

It doesn't click when pulling the cord

I think you just spray some wd40 into the spring, am sure I fixed mine this way, steam gets into it from the shower and it stops clicking.

 

[MontyVeda]

[QUOTE 5447163, member: 9609"]was the fan one of these that stays on for a few minutes after the light has been switched off? I guess some sort of short circuit fault in the timed control switch in the fan is somehow allowing power back to the light. Sounds dangerous.

we once had a fan that just stayed on permanently, it had to be replaced[/QUOTE]
Yes. It stays on for a while after the shower's been turned off. However the light is on in both positions when the fan is switched to on rather than being in operation (not sure how clear or relevant that is).

I also don't understand how a one way switch can be 'on' in both positions. Surely its either open or closed??