Hope somebody can set my mind at rest. I wish to install a bathroom extractor fan with its own pull cord switch as follows:

Live feed from light pull cord - through extractor pull cord & in to live extractor terminal. Neutral extractor to neutral ceiling rose. There is no earth in my lighting circuit as the house pre dates regs requiring this.

Obviously this is a spur off a spur which I am a little concerned about. Also is the extractor lightly to be fused (manrose) or do I need to install a fuse & where?

All advice greatfully appreciated!

Thanks,
Pete.

Pete you do not seem to be getting any response from the Pro's, perhaps because there has been a lot of inquiries similar to yours and you can research this forum for them; mostly an isolator switch features in this type of circuit and without an earth all bathroom stuff needs to be double insulated. Maybe someone will put me in my place and advise you better. Mc

What id do is check your bathroom pull switch you may be lucky and have a L+N there, if so just put the brown with the common, blue with the neutral, run new cable to your fused spur for fan and connect the fan to that.
If not you are quite right that you can take a permanent live from the switch and a neutral from the light then connect them into the fused spur for fan. Most fans will come with their own pull chord built in so i woulnt worry too much about wiring a seperate one. As its a lighting circuit there is no such thing as a "spur off a spur" youre thinking about sockets (and even then this is acceptable if they are taken from a fused spurs load side with a 13a fuse)

I'm in a similar situation. As the OP writes, any help appreciated!

Hi, Fife, in this situation could one get away with running a neutral from pull-cord light switch directly to the fan and also a switched and permanent live directly from the light pull-cord to the fan? I know it should be via a 3 pole isolator, but it is possible, hypothetically-speaking to run the fan directly off the light pull-down?
Many thanks in advance.

Yeah you could do that but i wouldnt recommend doing it that way,you would always want an isolating switch of some sort instead of going straight into the fan.but as you point out it should really go through a 3 pole isolator because if you ever want to do maintanence on the fan you would have to kill the power at the consumer unit as you would always have a permanent live there. And if you have to change/fix the fan in the dark it can be a bit of a bugger!
p.s. I take it it is a timer fan you are fitting?

Hello, yes it's a timer-fan I'll be fitting.
I think I'll follow the isolator route. Would it just be a case of runing a perm live and switched live from pull-cord switchand neutral and earth from the rose into the isolator and then on to the fan?
Many thanks.

before you go and do that, if your light has the "loop-in" method with a live/neutral & switched live in it then you would be wasting your time going to the pull switch.

What would you advise in such a situation, Rich?

What Rich is saying is that if your bathroom light has a permanent live at it (usually the middle terminal and will have 2 or more red cables in it) you cant take a 3 core from there to the 3 pole isolator. Brown = Permanent live. Grey = Neutral and Black would be the switched live. You may be lucky and have this but in most situations most sparkies (myself included) Loop the lives at switches and neutrals at lights (if single cores)

sorry but most sparkies definitely do not loop lives at switches, most are lopped at ceiling roses. try the last 30 years and then ask yourself that question again.

Its down to personnal preference, as you well know.I admit i was maybe a bit forward to say MOST sparkies but hey its a DIY forum on the internet who really cares if the facts are right eh lol. Myself and most sparks i know loop at switches due to the fact that if you want to add another light in (outside one for example) its far easier if you have a L+N at the switch. Saves you having to get access and run a cable from the rose to thhe new light switch, then to the new light, where as in my case id just loop the live to my new common, join the neutral and just have one cable to run (to the new light).. Not to mention most houses usually use the jointbox method.
But this is an argument neither of us can or should win. as i said, down to either personnal preference or how your journeyman taught you to do it.
Cheers ( I love discussion and debate by the way so dont take this as an attack on yourself, im only on here to try and help people who dont know as much as we do about elec)

lol, i didn't think of it as an attack at all but we do prefer to tell everybody the correct way on here with advise, please don't assume that because it's a diy forum we let people do as they please, we don't.

i was merely pointing out your statement wasn't quite true and that in probably at least 60% of times you will find lives looped at lights not switches.

looping at switches has actually gone full circle, that is how is used to be done in days gone by and then scrapped but recently brought back into action by some. i've been doing this for 28 years so i have seen quite a lot of it. i was taught to frown badly upon neutrals at switches and i still do not like the idea of it now. i think it is Crabtree that has recently brought switches out with a loop neutral connection on them though but i know Newey & Eyre's have stopped socking them due to lack of sales.

i am happy you are here helping though so please carry on

Cheers mate!

I'm going to give this a try today. Ii'll post back to advise how I get on. Thanks!