Anyone know why my new extractor fan isn’t working?

[Fortheloveofscience]

When we moved into our current house the bathroom extractor did the sum total of bugger all, and as we’re updating the bathroom we’re now replacing it. We’ve tested the power, and it’s linked to the bathroom light. Installed a new one, it has a red power light that blinks when we turned the bathroom light on but the fan didn’t spin.

Replaced for another new fan in case the motor was faulty on the first one, and this one does the same: when the bathroom light turns on it twitches, a red light comes on but it doesn’t spin.

Any ideas?

Might be a poor connection of high resistance that does not carry enough power to run the fan. If you are using a neon screwdriver, throw it away.

Or maybe you have a timer fan that has been incorrectly wired.

Or maybe you have a mains voltage fan connected to a 12volt supply.

Thanks so much, PigletJohn. Think we’ll have to call the electrician out to fix it, suspect there’s just not enough power getting to it. We do have a neon screwdriver, but only coincidentally!

Re-did the light fittings and the pull cord over the weekend and they seemed normal. 2-way switch on the pull cord which I think suggests it’s also powering the fan (?). We’ve idiot-checked the fan itself a couple of times and can’t see a timer. There is a humidistat but even after we shower it’s not coming on so I don’t think it’s that.

"There is a humidistat "

look at the instructions and see how to adjust it for maximum sensitivity.

Consider buying a digital multimeter

You will be using the AC voltage range for voltages above 240, it might be marked 600v

The cheap ones have quite poor cables and probes, so inspect them before every use.

Thanks again - much appreciated.

The instructions that came with the fan were shit, but we’ve adjusted it to both extremes of the humidity settings and no joy. I have been telling DH that we need a multimeter, but his argument was that even if we discover there’s not enough power, we won’t be able to fix it!