Fandom

After something of a slow start to the day - namely not getting up until gone midday - I popped down town for a bite to eat and to learn my lines, whilst deciding whether to go to my cousin's birthday party or to get my broken bathroom fan sorted*.

Knowing what I am like, I decided to bite the bullet and get the fan sorted, otherwise I would be having a bath in the dark for the next few months** ... I'm not the most motivated when it comes to starting DIY projects, which is odd as when I get into the swing of them, I really enjoy it.

So, apologies to my cousin! If its any consolation, I feel really guilty about not showing my face ... again!

I will have to find a way to make it up to her.

Anyway, I managed to run through my lines once whilst having lunch at Presence again, which caught the eye of one of the staff ... and definitely the most attractive girl there. Well, she now knows where and when the next production is showing and which group is producing it ... is it too much to hope that she will come and have a ganders? Probably, but its a nice thought :-)

Then it was home-time to get started on the DIY, stopping briefly at Homebase where I picked up a natty camping lantern for use whilst the electrics were off.

I have to confess that I wasn't really looking forward to it. When my Dad and I fitted the last fan, we sealed it into the outlet pipe with bathroom sealant in order to prevent any returning water soaking the plasterboard again. I had visions in my head of being here for the next couple of weeks trying to extract the fan***, but was surprised when, with just a little gentle levering, it came out of the hole ... this was going better than planned!

Perhaps the most disgusting part of the job had to be cleaning out my hole - I didn't realise my place got that dusty. The fan must have been pulling the dust from all over the flat!

My dirty hole

After a little vacuum and toothbrush action

Once it was all reasonably clean, I tried the new fan in place to see what extra work needed to be done. Other than producing new screw holes and chiselling away an area for the cable, there wasn't really much to be done. So I got to work, wired the fan up and turned the electrics back on...

A fan of my work...

Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Not a sound. Not a glimmer of movement.

Bugger.

Looking at the instructions again there was a useful little troubleshooting guide. If the fan doesn't start, was it wired up right? Always a good place to start!!

I was pretty sure I had wired it right as I had done it the same as the previous fan. Then the problem popped right out at me: this fan needed the switched live and the permanent live connection in order to work, and I'd only wired the switched side as there was no other live wire.

Bugger.

After scouting round in the loft, tracking the cables and checking the junction boxes, it looks like I just need to replace a one metre length of cable with proper 3 core cable for it to work.

Fingers crossed...


* I should explain here that my nearest relative is over 2.5 hours drive away so it would not have been a quick trip.
** The fan is connected to the light switch which, when turned on, produces an oily burning smell, hence the reason for bathing in the dark. In case you were wondering :-)
*** No pun intended!

Comments

Cath said…
There are a thousand comments I could come up with regarding the screw holes in your dirty fan!!! But I shall refrain....for now!

I do hope you threw said toothbrush away though!

My dad has the problem of trying to fix things which he's put together far too well. He built a hutch for my rabbit a few years back and had to dismantle it recently. Took him longer to try and get it apart than it did to put it together!!!
OddThomas said…
Only a thousand comments?! Surely you could do better than that ;-)

Yes, the toothbrush has found a new home now - no longer will it be used for scrubbing my dirty holes!

I think it must be that generation! My Dad is very much the same, which is probably where I get it from. I built a desk in my bedroom once and that wouldn't have fallen apart without a wrecking ball!

So what happened to your bunny?

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