Extractor Fan not Triggered by Light Switch

Polly Rock

Hi, not sure if i'm in right forum but looking for some help/advice:

The extractor fan in my bathroom was triggered by the light switch - came on with light switch and then faded off after light switch was turned off. For some reason this has now stopped. Fan still works on it's own switch but just is not triggered by light switch anymore.

Can anyone please tell me what is wrong here and what I have to do to fix it?

Note: I am female and don't do attics!

Thanks

Woddle

I don't know if this helps, but firstly your fan switch should be left in the on position, and secondly it should come on with your bathroom lights and then turn off according to timer (this is not to say that this is how yours has been wired), by any chance was your bathroom light on when you where pressing the fan switch.
A fan switch is only there, so if there is a fault with the fan, the electrician can isolate the power going to the fan.

Stoner

was anyone at the switch, it should still work and it is unusual that this change in operation has happened. The fan would simply need to be fed directly from the light fitting in the bathroom (via a fan isolation switch)to work as you want (well no fade out, just on and off with the light).
Switching the fan isolator switch on and off should not turn the fan on and off. As posted above by Woddle, it is just there to isolate an electrician from the switched live (from the bathroom light) and the permanant live (that feeds the timer so it runs for a bit after the light is off.

without seeing it it is hard to know, but to me it sounds as if the switch you are using to turn on the fan is not a fan isolater, it's just a light switch treating the fan as a light, it's possible that the link from the bathroom light switch is broken either in the attic space, in the fan or even in the switch.

It would be easy to fix even if it required a new fan, get the same model so the connections line up.
If the switch for the fan is on the same bank of switches as the light for the bathroom, the linking could be done without going into the attic.

But no direct answer can be given to this issue as it could be a number of things, initially though it does not sound like a broken fan, more like a cable popped out of a connection somewhere and it would just be a case of finding it. (still might be the fan though lol)

Polly Rock

I have a feeling it's to do with a loose connection in the attic as we had a leak in the bathroom ceiling not too far off the fan. I will see what I can get done - many thanks for the replies.