Downlight and extractor fan advice

Good Afternoon,

I have just recently completed a city and guilds and am a trainee electrician. I was wondering if I could ask a question about something that has come up with a customer.

The gist is that the customer has just had a new downstairs toilet installed at the back of their kitchen. It is basically a small 'lean to' extension that they have converted half of into a toilet.

They now wish to have a single downlight and extractor fan installed.

I have no issues with wiring this, however, it's getting the power to it that concerns me.

On the wall opposite the toilet is a switch that controls two downlights.

Is there anyway I can use the feed from this switch or the one that goes to the lights it powers?

Obviously I would need the existing switch to still only power the two downlights it currently does and the new switch to power the extractor and fan in the toilet.

Apologies if Im not explaining this very well, i have added a photo taken before the toilet was installed, you can see the two lights that remain outside toilet and where the switch is....

Thank you for your time, I really learn a lot reading these pages.

Hi Markyd180, Welcome to the forum.

Firstly, I would recommend you look into applying for access to our Trainee forum where we have selected members that Mentor that section and help
the Trainee's with the level of question expected of someone learning the ropes.

Secondly, your post seem to suggest you are doing work for customers as a Trainee, you should therefore be under the instruction of a competent Electrician and I would have thought that any questions you have about the actual job on site would be better put to them and not a forum, we are all for helping you understand regulations and the many apsects of the job but I have hesitations here that we would be giving advice for you to do work you are not yet competent to do nor insured to do. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Hi and thank you for your reply. The customer is actually my best friend! It is true that I am working with a professional electrician also, however I wanted to ask for multiple opinions so I could use it as a case study to see what the best course would be before I did any work (which would all be supervised of course)

I am not so sure your customer can install a toilet leading directly onto a kitchen and comply with building regs

copied from another, forum ( notelectrical)

Architectural Drawings LtdA toilet can be off the kitchen.
There is no need for a separating lobby any more, that went out a number of years ago.
Planning is different from Building Control. Your local Planning office will have no jurisdiction over the insides of your home unless its a listed building. Building control will only need to be involved with something like this if you are making structural alterations requiring steel work.
As long as you use certified and Insured contractors for all the electrical work its doubtful you'd need to involve Building Control.
However;
The w.c. must have its own hand wash sink, using the kitchen sink is not acceptable under current Building Regulations.
The w.c. must be fitted with its own 100mm vent, this will be operated by the light switch and should have a minimum 15 minute overrun. Windows are ok, but there is the risk of the wind blowing in the wrong direction and pushing air into the kitchen instead of drawing it outside.
The door should open outwards if this is the only downstairs loo. This is a safety feature as d/s toilets should be disabled friendly, so if someone has an incident or fall in there they wont be trapped behind the door.
I'm assuming as its an existing w.c. you've probably got most of this covered already.


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Thank you for that very useful! Yes it is compliant with all of the things stated there.

A few points to note!

Your fan will need a means for local isolation, usually a fan switch, also the fan will more than likely require fusing down to 3amp as per instructions so the usual method is to pick a mains of the lighting circuit and run it through a fused spur to supply the toilet light and fan.

You will need to be able to supply the toilet light and fan with permanent line (and switched line) and neutral so you would have to find out where the permanent supply to the existing downlights is located and work from there.
I would tend to put the switch in the toilet area for convenience and to stop someone inadvertently turning it off when in use.