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Hello all,
Since moving into our home last year the en-suite extractor fan comes on every time we turn the light on. There is an isolator switch outside but it doesn’t appear to do anything. Having opened it up it looks like a double pole switch but I can see there’s two yellow cables that are permanently connected - see photo.

I was wondering if I swapped to a 3 pole switch would I then be able to isolate the fan and still turn the light on?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

MKDIYER wrote: ↑Mon Oct 30, 2023 11:13 pmI was wondering if I swapped to a 3 pole switch would I then be able to isolate the fan and still turn the light on?

It depends on how who ever installed it chose to wire it. As you say, it really should have a triple pole (fan) isolator switch.

If that switch does control the fan, switching it off would "break" the live AND neutral meaning the fan should NOT run

For fan to run it needs a line and a neutral, so does not matter if the switch turns off two lines or a neutral and either trigger line from lights or permanent line for the 15 minute run on it should stop, yes normally is a three pole switch, but unless switch is faulty it should have still worked.