Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry 1 Jan 19, 2011 1:01 pm We have an old 1930's bungalow in which we replaced a metallically-housed four-heat-lamp 3-in-1 (IXL I think?) that had worn its fan out with a new plastic-body HPM 622/2AC with four heat lamps on two switches plus a fan and smaller light lamp. It draws about 1300 watts in total. The electrician who installed a new hot water system kindly connected it up for us. Most of the GPO or power wiring in the ceiling space had been redone in modern times but remnant wiring (that may not be connected) is still visible in the ceiling space. A year later we got a Vapotec Steam Sensor that can automatically turn on the exhaust fan when it senses steam when you forget to turn the fan on by its switch. A different electrician installed it but afterwards only two of the four heat lamps worked as a wire had pulled out. Now I had asked him to put the Vapotec in with downlight style sockets so it could be easily unplugged if it or the fan unit went wrong. I just discovered that the socket from which the Vapotec sensor is powered has been connected to a GPO circuit and not the light circuit that the 3-in-1 is powered by. This seems unsafe to me as the connecter to switch the fan has two active lines into it - one switched by the sensor (on a GPO circuit) and the other from the fan switch on the wall. This means that, when steam is present, the GPO voltage is also going to be live on the light circuit & that is not protected by the Earth Leakage Detection Safety Switch! I have asked the company that organized the electrician to come back and rectify all the work later this week. Note they also replaced the wrong old light switch in the hall with a reproduction one instead of the problematic one they were asked to replace as well as not noticing a heat lamp wire had pulled loose! Now my dilemma is: should they connect the sensor power socket to the light circuit or rewire the 3-in-1 to the GPO circuit? Note that the space for mains isolation circuit breakers are all used up as the interconnected smoke detectors (in the ceiling space & at both ends of the house) have their own dedicated circuit, as does an included a GPO for outside use, a lights timer circuit and the safety switch. The GPO circuit the sensor is currently wired to is fairly heavily loaded already; pity it was not the other main GPO circuit. I have also contacted Vapotec via phone calls and through *.com.au that hosts their downloads suggesting they clarify their installation instructions on this issue. My instinct is to have them power the Vapotec from the Lights circuit too as the 3-in-1 has happily used that circuit itself all along and nearly all lights in the house are on low wattage globes anyway. The mains supply to the 3-in-1 from the Lights Circuit would then be routed through the downlight-style socket feeding the Vapotec sensor too. Possibly could add an extra socket for the 3-in-1 too so it can be independently plugged in? Does that make sense to the electrically accredited readers out there? P.S. The Vapotec is a brilliant unit that works responsively if you once in a while (say every six months) wipe the sensor with a cotton bud moistened with saliva! If someone in your household continually fogs up the bathroom, this will lower your blood pressure. Any electricians here please help. 1) Will the Fan need separate switch to ON/OFF/Speed eventhough it comes with Remote 2) how about… 0 1218 I'm curious, did they provide any reason why they did not like the idea? 1 14305 My home office is hot with computer equipment running virtually 18 hours a day. When it gets unbearably warm I simply step out of my door into the living area which is… 0 5126 |