wiring immersion switch with other cables

[ccr32]

Hi, hoping someone might be able to help me out - amateur DIY electrician alert...

My dippy girlfriend decided to take the immersion switch off the wall today without making a note of which cables go where on it, so now we are not sure how to put it all back together.

The switch is (if i've got this right) 2P 2T, in that there are 2x L's (live) and 2x N's (neutral), and 2 earths.

In terms of cables which are in the wall, there are 4 sets of red/black/earth ones. I know that one of these sets is the immersion, one is the water timer, and one is a socket which is a bit further along the wall, so the remaining cable must be the live from the fusebox/wherever.

My questions are therefore:

• How do I identify the live/other cables?
• How do I connect it all up?

I am thinking that the live cable, the socket and the timer are all put into one end of the switch (the bottom?), and the immersion is put in the top? Like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44826221@N02/41187636...

I have a multimeter, but I'm a bit scared to use it on a 240v main to be honest. If I need to man up though, please, do let me know.

[ccr32]

Thanks for the help so far people - in reading some of the posts, it doesn't sound like I've been too clear with the set up.

The CH/HW is gas fired, and run off the timer. The immersion is simply there as a backup, for when you want HW without firing up the boiler. The heating/timer does not normally use the immersion.

So, when it was all working before:

• Timer was always live - i.e. it had power to turn off and on as it pleased
• Socket was always live
• Immersion (independant of timer/CH) was only activated when switched on by this switch.

The G/F (who I have since unchained from the sink again) is going to take some pics this morning and I'll put them up on here to hopefully make things a bit clearer.

Thanks again.

[ccr32]

Here are the pics:

Front of switch

Back of switch

Lots of scary looking wires

[ccr32]

All sorted now - to my amazement, the girlfriend actually put it all back together herself using the advice on here before I got a chance to..!

With regard to some of the concerns, I do agree that it seems a bit dodgy to have all that running off one socket. However, a bit of further routing around the airing cupboard reveals a couple of additional fuse box things which then run to the timer and the immersion.

All working ok now so will leave it at that, and i'm happy that there are enough fuses in there not to worry me about something bad happening. Though I will bear in mind what has been said about running a kettle at the same time as the immersion..!

Thanks for your help.