Urgent Immersion Switch wiring problem

Robert80

Hi all,
I'm trying to rewire a double pole two way immersion switch. I took the old one off and rewired the new one the same, but its not working porperly. It works only at aound 20 degrees so I can't get any decent amount of hot water at all.

I wired the new switch like this, 2 neutral(blue) in Nin, 2 live(brown) in Lin, black in L2, brown in L1, one blue in Nout and its earthed properly with 2 earths.

The problem is not really that wiring I think, but rather the two extra connections the new switch has over the old switch, which are "Lout" and "Common". I think I need to wire these somehow, as I haven't actually gone near them.

I NEED HELP URGENTLY PLEASE, AS YOU CAN IMAGINE WITH NO REAL HOT WATER AT ALL!!! Thanks!!!

JohnnieK

Why is there two L's and two N's in the in's?

Depending on the switch there might be a requirement for the L in to be linked to a Com port on the switch, have a look for a Com port on the back of it. TURN OFF THE POWER OF COURSE.

Robert80

Howya Johnnie,
There is two in each because thats the way the old switch was wired. There was no Common port or Lout port on the old switch. The old switch is about 14 years old.

The new switch has a common port and also an Lout port, too. So maybe I need to wire one of the Lin's to the common? Also, do i need to wire anything to Lout? Cheers!

JohnnieK

Lout is your common. Link L in to L out and that will power the load side of the switch.

Robert80

Just to clarify man. I have two wires in Lin at the moment, so do I leave one in Lin and put the other in Lout? Whats the port labelled "common" for, or do I not need to worry about it? I only started doing this yesterday so I'm not sure. Thanks.

JohnnieK

O.K. Does your switch have: Lin, Nin, Com, L1 L2 Nout?

Lin is you live in from your fuse board.
Nin is the neutral from fuse board.

Link the Lin to the Com (with 2.5sq cable)

Brown from immersion into L1
Black from immersion into L2
Neutral from Immersion into Nout

And earth's to earth.

POWER OFF OF COURSE

Robert80

Yeah all those ports plus the Lout. All I'm having a problem with understanding is linking the Lin to Com. The two live in the Lin at the moment are coming from the fusebox, so judging by what you said then, leave those two where they are and I need to add another piece of live wire from the Lin to the com(or the Lout, as you said that was my common).

So, that will end up with three wires in the Lin(two from fusebox, one link) and the link in com or Lout.

I'm probably wrecking your head here, lol.

JohnnieK

Yeah you got it in one. About the wiring not the head wreck

Robert80

Cheers man! Your a saint! I'll sort it out when I get home.

Robert80

I tried what ya said johnnie but the light was flickering abit when the immersion was off, it didn't look right, so I took the link out of Lout and put it in the common port. Seems to do the job. The sink works fine now, but the bath still doesn't work. I think at this stage the element for the bath is probably gone.

Diggerdunne

you could try measuring the resistance of the bath element to see if it has failed. I think you should get something like 24 or so ohms otherwise its gone faulty

JohnnieK

Did the immersion breaker down at the fuse board trip initially when the problem started?

Robert80

An electrician fixed it yesterday evening. It was the bath element that was the problem. Thanks for your help and DiggerDunne's too.