We need a ceiling bathroom extractor fan. That needs electricity. The fan will be in the attic with a string pull into the bathroom.

Do I have to find the upstairs ring main and run a spur from that or can I run it from the upstairs lighting circuit.

The lighting circuit is easily accessible. The ring main will need finding.

With your reputation?

the easiest way is off the light and have it switching on with the light

TJ – that is what I was hoping.

I was wondering if i could have it separately switched from the light so it wasn’t extracting all the warm air while I am sat in the bath.

‘technically’ you are not allowed to do this as it is in a bathroom (needs to be a qualified electrician).

But do as TJ says – that is the common way of doing it and how I did mine. I mean how the ‘qualified electrician’ did mine yeah.

And don’t vent into the attic – you will get damp problems. Vent via the attic to outside.

Be careful choosing your fan. A lot will have a run-on feature where the fan stays on after you switch the light off. I seem to recall the one I bought then required a separate always on live to make it work, and I had to improvise around with it to sort this out.

Can you still get ones with separate pull cord? That would sort your chilly bathtime problem.

It will be vented ‘through’ the attic to the outside. Should have mentioned that.

The pull cord solution is what I was thinking of getting my qualified electrician friend to do.

I’d have it on a separate switch as you don’t want it running every time you go into the bathroom. If it’s got a delayed timer mechanism you’ll need a way of telling whether it’s on or off – I used a shower isolator switch with a LED but I think you can get fans with LEDS.

I had all of mine wired up by an electrician. As the rewire was done together with building a new extension everything was under current rules. The extractors are wired into the lighting circuit and come on with the bathroom lights. In each case the extractor has an isolation switch so it can be switched off without having to turn the lights off. In my case the isolation switches are in the loft but there is no reason why you can’t have a second pull cord in the bathroom, in fact I think it is quite common to do this.

You may not want to turn the extractor off while you are in the bath though, the idea is they remove damp air and that does help keep your mirrors clear of steam and, if you are that kind of guy, the extractor helps remove any gas if you blow a few bubbles in the bath 🙂

of course you don’t have building control to worry about so have the extractor operating how you like, independent of the lights if you so wish.

Short answer was you should be fine to use the lighting circuit for what you intend to do. Have your electrician check the instructions for the extractor unit though.

Had an electrician fit ours for £30. Peace of mind for not much money.

Had an electrician fit ours for £30. Peace of mind for not much money.

I studied as an electrician – wouldn’t let most of the others in my class anywhere near my electrics

i did this job myself and was very scared

lesson one there is an extra wire an orange or yellow one

lesson two this is part of the light circuit

lesson three this is live even if the light is off!!!!

having learned that the i was able to swap our existing pull switch fan for a humidity sensitive one , our fan now comes on automatically with the light and goes off after a minute or comes on when the humidity ie steam in the bathroom reaches a certain level(adjustable)

having done it once I’d pay to get it done in future working out which was which wire in the light socket was areal pain as our house is very old and has been through the hands of a number of DIY hobbyists of varying incompetence.

I studied as an electrician – wouldn’t let most of the others in my class anywhere near my electric

I trust my electrician – find a recommended one and it’s the best option imho.

It’s a small price (for me) to pay to know I’m not going to get electrocuted/burn the house down.

ENSURE THE POWER IS OFF, i was fitting a new t and g ceiling in an old house, asked the chap to switch the power off, he said he had, i checked the lights and they didnt come on, so removed the ceiling rose, 2 wires hanging from ceiling in far corner, which i didnt notice till i got to far corner, pushed them aside with the hammer, and huge bang and flash, he hadnyt turned off the power for the fan, which was on another circuit, just the lights, which where marked lights on the circuit board.

I resisted the temptration to drop the hammer through his bog.

The only way of knowing the power is off is by doing it yourself. I flatly refuse to trust anyone else to do it.

Edit – I usually check at the work end too – perhaps I am a bit paranoid.

Being equally paranoid, I was thinking I could go one step further and have a complete “lock-off” station fitted. 😉

Edit – I usually check at the work end too – perhaps I am a bit paranoid.

Nope. Standard practice. Test before touch we call it. Use a meter to test after isolating and before touching rather than a hammer ^^^ 😉

And this 😉

FeeFoo – Member
Being equally paranoid, I was thinking I could go one step further and have a complete “lock-off” station fitted.

`tis what I have to do at work btw. The key then gets put in a lockbox and a permit to work issued 🙄

Of course, how could I forget the Ptw!?
I’ll check to see if Amazon stock the ptw books. 😉