two way light switch fails under less than a year of use

katejo

I had my whole hall and landing arear re-plastered and redecorated under a year ago. In the process, an electrician fitted a double light switch downstairs to replace 2 previous single switches. 1 switch controls the light by the front door and that is still working. The 2nd switch is part of a two way one (paired with the landing switch).
All worked fine until a few weeks ago when the downstairs part of the 2 way switch started failing. Sometimes it flickered on briefly and then went off again and sometimes it didn't come on  at all. The upstairs single switch continued to work until last week when it suddenly failed. I have been unable to contact the guy who project managed the whole job because he has left the UK and isn't replying to any messages.
My guess as to the cause is a loose wire/connection somewhere behind the 2 way switch. Is it likely to be something which can be corrected quite easily or will it be a more major job? It would be helpful to know before I contact another electrician or try again  to pursue my original project manager.  I hope this description makes sense.

Cornucopia

It could be (and is likely to be) as simple as a single connection that has come loose behind one of the switches.   Any electrician and most people competent with electrics should be able to fault-find and fix it.   

katejo

Cornucopia said:

It could be (and is likely to be) as simple as a single connection that has come loose behind one of the switches.   Any electrician and most people competent with electrics should be able to fault-find and fix it.   

That's  what I suspected and really hoped I was right so thanks a lot. I will contact an electrician. I have another small job which they could also help me with. 

Risteard

Cornucopia said:

It could be (and is likely to be) as simple as a single connection that has come loose behind one of the switches.   Any electrician and most people competent with electrics should be able to fault-find and fix it.   

More likely the mechanism has just failed inside the switch. It happens, particularly with budget (aka !!!!!!) accessories. Likely just to need the switch replaced.

katejo

Risteard said:

Cornucopia said:

It could be (and is likely to be) as simple as a single connection that has come loose behind one of the switches.   Any electrician and most people competent with electrics should be able to fault-find and fix it.   

More likely the mechanism has just failed inside the switch. It happens, particularly with budget (aka !!!!!!) accessories. Likely just to need the switch replaced.

It wasn't a really cheapy/plastic looking  one and was supposed to have a 2 year guarantee. Possibly  this one BG Brushed Steel 20A 2 way 2 gang Light Switch | DIY at B&Q

ThisIsWeird

Could be a loose wire, or could be a faulty switch. 

Since it's 2-way, then one can affect the other's behaviour, giving the appearance of two faulty switches when only one is actually at fault.

You know how they operate; you can start with one switch in the normal 'on' position, and the other will then do 'on and off'. If you then place the first switch to the 'up' 'off' position (obviously not really 'off'), the other will continue to do on&off, but in the opposite position to before.

The faulty switch, whether internal or just a loose connection, could therefore only affect the other switch when the former is in one position. I think...

Anyhoo, to check for loose connections is usually well within a comp DIY task, but obviously the power would need turning off first. A sparky would almost certainly sort this very quickly.

It's annoying the other spark has disappeared, but them's the breaks, as our hallowed ex-leader once said.

Sorry, I meant hollowed.

Are you up for some DIY? To switch such a switch is very doable, but you DO need to be 100% happy you are capable of doing this. With 2-way, wire labelling is key, so do not undo anything without taking that into account.

katejo

ThisIsWeird said:

Could be a loose wire, or could be a faulty switch. 

Since it's 2-way, then one can affect the other's behaviour, giving the appearance of two faulty switches when only one is actually at fault.

You know how they operate; you can start with one switch in the normal 'on' position, and the other will then do 'on and off'. If you then place the first switch to the 'up' 'off' position (obviously not really 'off'), the other will continue to do on&off, but in the opposite position to before.

The faulty switch, whether internal or just a loose connection, could therefore only affect the other switch when the former is in one position. I think...

Anyhoo, to check for loose connections is usually well within a comp DIY task, but obviously the power would need turning off first. A sparky would almost certainly sort this very quickly.

It's annoying the other spark has disappeared, but them's the breaks, as our hallowed ex-leader once said.

Sorry, I meant hollowed.

Are you up for some DIY? To switch such a switch is very doable, but you DO need to be 100% happy you are capable of doing this. With 2-way, wire labelling is key, so do not undo anything without taking that into account.

No I won't attempt it myself. Really wouldn't know what to do. When the upstairs light was still working, I did test whether the position of the downstairs switch made a difference but didn't find a definite pattern.

DullGreyGuy

katejo said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Could be a loose wire, or could be a faulty switch. 

Since it's 2-way, then one can affect the other's behaviour, giving the appearance of two faulty switches when only one is actually at fault.

You know how they operate; you can start with one switch in the normal 'on' position, and the other will then do 'on and off'. If you then place the first switch to the 'up' 'off' position (obviously not really 'off'), the other will continue to do on&off, but in the opposite position to before.

The faulty switch, whether internal or just a loose connection, could therefore only affect the other switch when the former is in one position. I think...

Anyhoo, to check for loose connections is usually well within a comp DIY task, but obviously the power would need turning off first. A sparky would almost certainly sort this very quickly.

It's annoying the other spark has disappeared, but them's the breaks, as our hallowed ex-leader once said.

Sorry, I meant hollowed.

Are you up for some DIY? To switch such a switch is very doable, but you DO need to be 100% happy you are capable of doing this. With 2-way, wire labelling is key, so do not undo anything without taking that into account.

No I won't attempt it myself. Really wouldn't know what to do. When the upstairs light was still working, I did test whether the position of the downstairs switch made a difference but didn't find a definite pattern.

If you arent comfortable dealing with electrics then certainly leave it to the pros. 

We had a switch stop working it was as simple as turning off the lighting ring in the consumer unit/fuse box, undoing the two screws and as I pulled the switch away from the wall you could see most the cables were tightly connected but one was in the connector but dancing around. A quick turn of the clamping screw held that wire back in place and putting everything back and power back on its worked fine ever since.

ThisIsWeird

katejo said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Could be a loose wire, or could be a faulty switch. 

Since it's 2-way, then one can affect the other's behaviour, giving the appearance of two faulty switches when only one is actually at fault.

You know how they operate; you can start with one switch in the normal 'on' position, and the other will then do 'on and off'. If you then place the first switch to the 'up' 'off' position (obviously not really 'off'), the other will continue to do on&off, but in the opposite position to before.

The faulty switch, whether internal or just a loose connection, could therefore only affect the other switch when the former is in one position. I think...

Anyhoo, to check for loose connections is usually well within a comp DIY task, but obviously the power would need turning off first. A sparky would almost certainly sort this very quickly.

It's annoying the other spark has disappeared, but them's the breaks, as our hallowed ex-leader once said.

Sorry, I meant hollowed.

Are you up for some DIY? To switch such a switch is very doable, but you DO need to be 100% happy you are capable of doing this. With 2-way, wire labelling is key, so do not undo anything without taking that into account.

No I won't attempt it myself. Really wouldn't know what to do. When the upstairs light was still working, I did test whether the position of the downstairs switch made a difference but didn't find a definite pattern.

No prob. It'll almost certainly be a cheap and easy fix for a sparky. The main caveat to that would be if the switch is faulty and they need to make two trips. 

Meanwhile, I wouldn't continue to leave either of these switches 'on', even if they appear to work. Fair chance of some arcing taking place, which is undesirable.

Cornucopia

There's probably a money-saving twist on this which is to buy two replacement switches from somewhere that will take them back without question if you don't use them.   That avoids the situation where the Electrician needs to make two calls because they don't have the correct replacement on their van, and it means you'll get the replacement "look" you want, rather than just what they have.

Simonon77

Cornucopia said:

There's probably a money-saving twist on this which is to buy two replacement switches from somewhere that will take them back without question if you don't use them.   That avoids the situation where the Electrician needs to make two calls because they don't have the correct replacement on their van, and it means you'll get the replacement "look" you want, rather than just what they have.

Screwfix let you return things no problem if you dont use them