Can I replace a light switch myself?

[flitwit99]

My DIY skills are shit. Dh's are worse.
We have a triple switch that controls an extractor fan and 2 different sorts of lights. The switching bit for one of the lights fell out recently. Now the one for the extractor has fallen out. So I have just taped up the whole switch thing and the bathroom now has no lights.

I realise this is ridiculous and we have to fix it. Is it easy to just buy a new switch and fit it in or is it a job for an electrician? I really need to grow up and become an adult. Where am I going to find an electrician to come out and fix one single light switch? Tradesmen are hard to come by round our way.

Do it yourself. You tube video. Take photos before you undo any wires so you know where to put them back. Don't forget to turn off the electricity before you start.

Yes, it's easy to do, I've swapped over loads of sockets and switches. As above, switch everything off at the mains first, then unscrew the original socket away from the wall and take photos of where all the wires are going in on the original socket.

Good luck!

Light switches are harder than sockets, especially if any of the light are controlled from another switch as well as that one.
Important points are turn all the electric off first, and ideally use a proper tester to confirm, otherwise a multi meter would do it.
Next one is take a photo of all the wiring before you start disconnecting.
Don't assume the layout of the terminals are the same been the old and new switches.

I did. It’s really easy. As said upthread, take a pic of wires before disconnecting.

Buy ‘3222G’ from Screwfix first. It’s an electricity detector. Hold it near live wires and it beeps/flashes.

No need to turn off all the electrics, only turn off the appropriate switch in the fuse box, that screwfix device will let you know when your light switch is no longer live.

If the house is 80s or older (ours is late 80s ) you might find you need to google say ‘uk electric cable colours’ as they changed live and neutral to other colours , confusing as the switch instructions will be based on latest regulations.

The long winded way ( more than my post! ) is to buy the detector, find the right fuse switch in fuse box, turn off, remove screws to allow you to pull the switch back off the wall, photo everything then either take photo back to screwfix and ask for replacement or remove switch and take switch to screwfix.

Okay, I'll give it a go this weekend. It's the only switch for the lights, but one thing is an extractor fan rather than a light. But the principle should be the same, right? Put the correct wires in the correct places?

And we have a Screwfix near us, I've been in there to ask for help before. I'll do that.

it's the same principle as wiring a plug so if you are confident to do that then I would go for it
Bear in mind plug wire colours are blue for neutral, brown for live, yellow with green for earth and house wire colours are black for neutral, red for live and often a bare copper wire for earth (it should be covered, where exposed, by a green/yellow slip on cover, so if you have those on already you can recycle them!)

You will need suitable screwdrivers, wire stripper (or a sharp knife and a steady hand to strip off any excess insulation from the wires) and maybe some sturdy pliers to trim the wires, but do not cut them too short, you may have some slack wire inside the wall so give the grey house wire a gentle tug to see, it'll make manipulating the wires into the terminals much easier if you have a bit of length.

If you have to strip insulation from the wires make sure it's only for the bit that goes into the terminal...you don't want excess "bare wires" inside the switch.

I personally would ALWAYS turn off ALL the electric when going near any wiring just for my own peace of mind.

Excellent advice to photograph the existing fittings of wires to terminals, it shouldn't be too complicated even if it is 3 into one, ime it's the switches for hall/landing lights that are top/bottom of the stairs that cause the problems!

Just browsing this thread now, flitwit99, almost a year later!

Did you manage to get it sorted? I always like to hear the end of a story

It's really easy. First is turn-off the power from the main breaker. Follow along this video to have a real case scenario.