Prosecution

[tigerpaul]

We had our ECA assessor visit today and while we were chatting he mentioned a case in London where a contractor had done an apartment block. There was a fan in a bathroom which had gotten stuck and the motor had caught alight and caused a major fire. Everything he'd done was as per BS7671, except however he hadn't fused the fan down to 3A as per the fan manufacturers instructions. Now this contractor has been prosecuted.
Now how many times have you seem a bathroom fan fused down to 3A? I haven't at all, it's always just the 6A Mcb providing protection.

 

[applemac]

there is one, better still if the fan manufactures could build a inline fuse holder or thermal cut out to stop all this booox
i heard of a cu with a 3amp mcb dedicated to supplying extractors?

 

[Guest55]

We have been through this with the niceic and we now have to code an unfused bathroom fan as a code 2

er , no you dont cos its complete nonsense lol.
so 99% of properties will now fail your EICR's then ?
that is truely money grabbing , regs bending , mind numbing baloney.

 

[Marvo]

If that's a multiple choice question I'll go with answer 'c' - mind numbing baloney

Edit
I might have been a little hasty, money grabbing also sounds possible.....bah I hate multiple choice...

 

[Deleted member 9648]

We have been through this with the niceic and we now have to code an unfused bathroom fan as a code 2, we've been doing this for a couple of years now and to be honest we come across it all the time, but yes we've been through this a few times on here manufactures instructions should be followed at all times and yes they do state 3 amp fuse for fans

Not something our NICEIC assessor has instructed us....and he goes through my EICR's with a microscope.

 

[vaughant]

Mine downstairs is fed from a fused spur with a 3a fuse?
Point taken on the customer changing it though,it could have blown once or twice then the guy stuck a 10a fuse in it as:
A) it was all he had
b) it stopped the missus moaning about the condensation in the babathrooms
c) all of the above.

 

[ayjay]

as vaughant says its better to fit a fused spur(3a fuse)

 

[Baker1988]

I have never heared of this I know your suppose to put a triple pole isolator outside of the bathroom but how you gonna fuse it down as well go straight from the triple pole isolator to the fuse spur it will look **** above your bathroom door

 

[Brett60]

I was told by my nic inspector that if we use fans with built in thermal overload protection you dont have to fuse down bellow 6A ??????????:smartass2:

 

[Plonker 3]

I was told by my nic inspector that if we use fans with built in thermal overload protection you dont have to fuse down bellow 6A ??????????:smartass2:

so NIC now also overrule any manufacturers instructions, they really are the font of all electrical knowledge now aren't they.

 

[ayjay]

you could use a dual box to mount the 2 plates, or as a previous poster said there maybye a triple pole switch with an inbuilt fuse available

 

[decolad69]

there is one, better still if the fan manufactures could build a inline fuse holder or thermal cut out to stop all this booox
i heard of a cu with a 3amp mcb dedicated to supplying extractors?

Totally agree with you, how do you fuse a fan at 3a which has a L/SWL from the bathroom light ? The last one I installed I wired the supply to the bathroom light via a FCU to protect both fan L and SWL.

 

[ayjay]

btw what type of fan are we discussing? one of those cheap £12- ones or something like a greendale
also if you energize a bathroom fan then jam the impellar does it get overheated and catch fire?

 

[durhamspark]

Hmmmm, so the ECA are making a bit of a push regarding 134.1.1 ? This presumably includes torquing of terminals in distribution boards ?

In other totally unrelated news, I see the ECA have started selling torque screwdriver sets.

 

[Robert Turnbull]

Why isn't there a triple pole fan isolator with a fuse in it on the market?

Or if there is I've never seen one.

I believe that there is.

I thought there might be but I've never know of one, but saying that I've never looked.

If this is something so important then all triple pole fan isolators should have this.

 

[Deleted member 9648]

I thought there might be but I've never know of one, but saying that I've never looked.

If this is something so important then all triple pole fan isolators should have this.

How would that work though?....there's two lives.