We replaced non functioning extractor fan in bathroom and landlord not happy... please advise re extractor fans!!!

[Alliwantisaroomsomewhere]

When we moved in to the house in January this year the extractor fan in the bathroom was not working and we asked the LL to replace it. He chose not to do so. We decided to replace it ourselves and we used one that is connected to the light switch - if you turn the light on then the extractor fan goes on automatically.

We moved out last week as LL is selling. He does not like the new extractor fan and says, quite rightly, that we did not ask him permission to replace the non-working one. He says he wants one that does not switch on automatically when the light goes on. He says he would find this annoying, to have the fan go on when he switched the light on.

So eventually the question: can you get extractor fans that do not connect to the light and do no go on when you switch the light on? i do not know what to look for online. I have found motion sensor ones, but surely that would go on even during the day when light is not needed.

If you have been able to keep reading thus far: wow!, thanks!, and do you have any ideas?

No ideas at all but when I have had extractor fans in bathrooms they have always been ones that turn on when the light goes on so this is clearly fairly normal! What sort did he have when you moved in that didn't work, was it some different arrangement?

ours are connected to the light, but have a separate isolator switch so that they can be switched off so that they don't come on, is that a possibility?

Ours is connected to a double switch- so the light is on one switch and the fan on the other.

However, I think you would be well within your rights to return the fan to the state it was before you altered it- ie make it non functioning by disconnecting it. If your landlord wants to do something different with it, that is up to him!

Amaris, I am not sure what kind it was. When DH replaced the fan, he used the same space that the old one was in.

Chasing, I will ask at our local DIY store about an isolator switch. Is it connected to the ceiling extractor fan? Can you describe the set up for me please?

I grew up in South Africa where we did not need extractor fans as it was so dry anyway, and warm enough to open the window to get rid of condensation! I am in England now.

I asked for a fan that don't go on with the light, but my plumber said it was part of building regs that they do this.
If you can choose when it goes on and off, you could have a shower without the fan on, and if the room is otherwise unventilated, you will get a build-up of damp and mould.
Having said which, he compromised and gave me a fan that is connected to the light switch but also has a pull cord so can be turned off if needed (useful for late night trips to the loo!).
Having said all that, can you not tell your landlord to push off, since you already replaced a non-operative fan at your own expense?

Ask him to bloody disconnect this extractor.

ours all have isolator switches above the door to the room, on the outside. But they were wired in when the house was built, so are not necessarily near the fan. The separate pull switch maybe an option? Or as someone else said, just disconnect it!

He's just being difficult. He's selling - it's perfectly normal to have a fan which switches on with the light. The previous fan doesn't work. Ignore him.

IMO you just need to do the least possible to sort it out, so just disconnect it like others have said! All mine have failed at some point and I haven't bothered to replace them as it hasn't caused a problem, and they can be annoying. Sounds like your LL is being an arse though, unless there some official reason connected to safety.

Bemybebe, what an obvious solution!!! He gave us a house with no extractor fan working so should get the same back.

The most ridiculous thing of all is that he is not even fucking living there. He has put the house on the market but decided to short term let again now that we have moved out because the market is slow(always had good working relationship with him). He said he is worried new tenant will damage the fan somehow or other - cannot remember what he said precisely. But I reminded him that that is what the deposit from new tenant would be there for.

he is a complete twat. Having it come on with the light switch is the "correct" thing to do. He is probably an older person who doesn't approve of extractors, either because he has an aversion to ventilation, or because he thinks the fan is noisy, or because he thinks that a device which will run for 50 hours on 12p worth of electricity is extravagant.

It is possible, but foolish, to use a fan which has its own pull cord so you can switch it off at whim, even if it is powered from teh lighting circuit.

I don't for a moment believe that any buyer will object to it, unless they are as daft as him.

However, as benybebe says, if he provided you with a non-working fan, it is very reasonable to have your new fan disconnected or disabled so it doesn't work. A stupid solution but it meets his stupid requirement. Rather than pay for an electrician to do this stupid thing, offer to go back and do it yourself. I don't suppose you've got the old broken fan you could shove back, have you?

To answer the first question, you can get extractor fans with a humidistat, a sensor that turns the fan on automatically when there is too much moisture in the air.

I find opening a window works very well, and were my tenants to want an extractor fan, I'd get one that didn't work with the lights as lights aren't necessary when showering in broad daylight.

Things may be 'correct' (according to whom?) but it doesn't mean they are sensible.

I thought that the extractor fan had to go on when the light switched on. My tenant replaced the one in the bathroom of the house I let for the same reason (although I didn't know originally that the extractor fan wasn't working) and wired it in wrong so it went on when he turned the light out , and he is a qualified electrician!

As a side note the bathroom in my house doesn't have a window so it needs to have a working extractor, and I would have paid for it if he had flagged it, and did offer when I was told about it.

What an idiot. Would he rather have a damp and mouldy bathroom?

Thanks for all the replies! We have offered himn £50 for this and the other matters he was not satisfied with (the beading at the bottom of his vertical blinds were broken and a glass lampshade in the hallway was cracked) and he as accepted it.

It was precisely because of the possibility of damp and mould that we installed a working extractor fan, Fruitsalad!

I know that we offered more than the actual "damage" is worth, but at this point it seemed sensible to throw money at him to make him fuck off. Had he not accepted the £50, we would have taken it further.

New extractor fan fitted over the summer, here. The fitter was going to set it up so that it came on automatically with the light but I asked him to set it up with 2 switches as I don't want the fan going for half an hour if someone just pops to the loo: too noisy & no need.

It didn't seem to be a problem though I got a huge lecture about having to turn on the fan when having a shower so the new paintwork doesn't go mouldy .

"I don't want the fan going for half an hour if someone just pops to the loo: too noisy & no need"

opinions differ.

Um, obviously opinions differ - you've given yours, I've given mine, everyone else has given theirs and the OP has a practical (if slightly farcical) solution to her slightly farcical situation.

Sounds like a good day's work.