Gravity grille not opening when bathroom fan on

[Tigercubrider]

https://www.vent-axia.com/sites/default/files/lo-carbon_silhouette_0_0_0.pdf

are you twisting? lifting upwards? pulling towards yourself?

 

[optimystery]

I've tried all of those. Pulling in every direction and from every side.
I will contact Ventaxia and ask them..

 

[foxhole]

Assuming it’s installed the right way up the front cover slides to the right then pull towards you , small plug in one end of the pcb is removed and rotated 180 degrees and refitted to adjust from low to high speed .

 

[foxhole]

https://www.vent-axia.com/file/196350/download?token=69EYXbHs

 

[optimystery]

Thanks, but I have this manual. The instructions there are for the flat cosmetic front cover, not the main cover that contains the pcb

 

[foxhole]

If you can’t simply lift off the cover the installers may have contaminated it with silicon , effectively glueing it in place .

 

[optimystery]

Reviving this thread as, guess what, the vent came away from the wall, and I discovered they had attached it with some kind of stick on rubber pegs. These had totally broken off.

Worse, once I pulled the vent away I could see that there was no ducting, just moist air being vented into the hole in the brick.
Not only would this affect airflow, but would probably lead to brick damage/spalling/mould over time.

Because the quality of work is so bad and this company have been so dishonest, I'm going to name and shame them.
As specialist electricians, installing bathroom fans should have been one of the jobs they would know inside out. So not installing plastic pipe in the hole is a horrible bodge.

I am now going to have to rectify this myself.

The company is

Amex Construction, Electrical and Building Services - Avoid!!

​

 

[opps]

Reviving this thread as, guess what, the vent came away from the wall, and I discovered they had attached it with some kind of stick on rubber pegs. These had totally broken off.

Worse, once I pulled the vent away I could see that there was no ducting, just moist air being vented into the hole in the brick.
Not only would this affect airflow, but would probably lead to brick damage/spalling/mould over time.

Because the quality of work is so bad and this company have been so dishonest, I'm going to name and shame them.
As specialist electricians, installing bathroom fans should have been one of the jobs they would know inside out. So not installing plastic pipe in the hole is a horrible bodge.

I am now going to have to rectify this myself.

The company is

Amex Construction, Electrical and Building Services - Avoid!!​

I am surprised that no one else has mentioned that the supposed electrician has used the earth in the flex as the switched live, meaning that there is no earth protection on the flex. The fan doesn't need an earth but (although, I am not an electrician) I was under the impression that the cable needs earth protection.


The lack of ducting, if is a cavity wall will see much of the vented air running in to the void.

Their website only offers a partial address, other sites that they advertise on list the address as - 9 Sutherland Close Barnet United Kingdom EN5 2JL

They mention that they are TrustMark certified, they are indeed. However, the certification only lists them as electricians.

Business not found • TrustMark

www.trustmark.org.uk

The address however is listed as - 402 Watford Way London Hertfordshire NW4 4XE

Entering the NW4 4XE postcode into the NICEIC website returns an electrician that lives in a different house. Using the EN5 2JL postcode returns no electrician in that postcode. Google lists Amex Construction at 6 Quinta Dr, Barnet EN5 3AA. EN5 3AA returns no results either. The site does however have the following disclaimer

If the business you are looking for is not on this list, this does not necessarily mean the business you have tried to search for is not registered with us, so if you have any questions or concerns please contact our Customer Services on 03330156625

I can find no mention of Amex Construction listed at
Company's House, I am guessing that the owner is self employed and trading as Amex Construction. Is that specified on your invoice or quote?

Did they charge VAT, if yes, their VAT number should be on the invoice. You can check it at

Check a UK VAT number

Check a UK VAT registration number is valid. Prove when you checked a number.

www.gov.uk

All of the above may be perfectly innocent, the guy may have moved home and not updated the info elsewhere.

Have you contacted him? In the event that you decide to take him the small claims court, you will need to allow him an opportunity to rectify things. Judges tend to want the accused to be granted the opportunity to put things right before proceedings take place.

Regarding ducting in a through wall, I don't know if it is a legal requirement. It might be a good idea to ask in the electrical sub forum.

Here's hoping that you find a satisfactory resolution.

 

[hllns]

I am surprised that no one else has mentioned that the supposed electrician has used the earth in the flex as the switched live, meaning that there is no earth protection on the flex. The fan doesn't need an earth but (although, I am not an electrician) I was under the impression that the cable needs earth protection.

To be fair it says that picture is from Amazon (off a review?) so it's someone else's incompetence.

 

[opps]

To be fair it says that picture is from Amazon (off a review?) so it's someone else's incompetence.

Good spot, my bad, thanks.

 

[optimystery]

Here's a few photos:

The strange rubber pegs that were meant to pop into the vent's screw holes had totally disintegrated.
Decent enough hole drilled, but still porous and uneven surface.
The wiring with the face plate removed. The base unit seems a bit warped, maybe explaining why the cover was very difficult to remove.
I added a piece of 35cm 100mm (female) plastic tubing from screwfix for about £3. It fits snug onto both male coupling for the fan and the duct.

This was a little tricky to do since the wiring was tight and had a very narrow space above the duct. I had to shave off a little bit of the inner diameter to get the duct to connect with the fan by pushing it through from the outside. A small pebble was placed on toop of the tube to angle it downwards in case of any condensation runoff.

No adhesive or foam used. I should really have drilled holes for the vent, but this was above head height on a sloping roof with fragile slate, so the snug connection to the duct and silicone around the edges got the job done. I'm no professional and just someone learning how to DIY.
But the main thing is that the fan is now much more effective.

The other photo shows the flaps opening normally. This is with the bathroom door closed. No difference with it open really, as I made very sure they left a 1cm gap under the door.

The only downside is that the fan now resonates a bit, presumably at the resonant frequency of the duct. But that's a small price to pay for much better extraction and minimising risk of damage to the brick or mould.

Making this change proves how important friction-free uniform airflow is in determining an axial fan's effectiveness.

It's very strange to cut corners on such easy and basic things!

I had also requested that they use a proper wet saw for cutting hard porcelain tiles, and ended up having to buy another couple of boxes because they tried to cut corners there too. They hid broken pieces under the other debris.

Within a year I also had to replace the bath sealant myself.

Take pride in your work, admit when you don't know something, don't bullsh** customers and be honest. It's not difficult

 

[optimystery]

I am surprised that no one else has mentioned that the supposed electrician has used the earth in the flex as the switched live, meaning that there is no earth protection on the flex. The fan doesn't need an earth but (although, I am not an electrician) I was under the impression that the cable needs earth protection.


The lack of ducting, if is a cavity wall will see much of the vented air running in to the void.

Their website only offers a partial address, other sites that they advertise on list the address as - 9 Sutherland Close Barnet United Kingdom EN5 2JL

They mention that they are TrustMark certified, they are indeed. However, the certification only lists them as electricians.

Business not found • TrustMark

www.trustmark.org.uk

The address however is listed as - 402 Watford Way London Hertfordshire NW4 4XE

Entering the NW4 4XE postcode into the NICEIC website returns an electrician that lives in a different house. Using the EN5 2JL postcode returns no electrician in that postcode. Google lists Amex Construction at 6 Quinta Dr, Barnet EN5 3AA. EN5 3AA returns no results either. The site does however have the following disclaimer

If the business you are looking for is not on this list, this does not necessarily mean the business you have tried to search for is not registered with us, so if you have any questions or concerns please contact our Customer Services on 03330156625

I can find no mention of Amex Construction listed at
Company's House, I am guessing that the owner is self employed and trading as Amex Construction. Is that specified on your invoice or quote?

Did they charge VAT, if yes, their VAT number should be on the invoice. You can check it at

Check a UK VAT number

Check a UK VAT registration number is valid. Prove when you checked a number.

www.gov.uk

All of the above may be perfectly innocent, the guy may have moved home and not updated the info elsewhere.

Have you contacted him? In the event that you decide to take him the small claims court, you will need to allow him an opportunity to rectify things. Judges tend to want the accused to be granted the opportunity to put things right before proceedings take place.

Regarding ducting in a through wall, I don't know if it is a legal requirement. It might be a good idea to ask in the electrical sub forum.

Here's hoping that you find a satisfactory resolution.

Appreciate you doing this research. I suspect keeping things widely spread around like this, and maintaining most correspondence away from email are standard practice for many in the trade.

I've completed the fan install & re-sealed the bath myself and there are no other issues I'm aware of, so calling out shoddy work is all that's necessary here.

 

[opps]

The strange rubber pegs that were meant to pop into the vent's screw holes had totally disintegrated.

They aren't rubber pegs. They used silicone dots and pushed the vent on, the excess silicone pushed through the plate screw holes (giving the impression of rubber pegs).

Apropos my earlier (incorrect) post about their wiring, the wiring looks to be fine.