Unidentified wall thingy!

[Leith49]

Just moved house and found this - any ideas what it is! Only words I can make out are 'amp', 'volt', 'made in england'. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[McMurdo]

It looks a bit like some double modular light switches we had at our old school. The top part would be a metal dolly and the bottom either another switch or a neon indicator. The former we had for the classroom lights and the latter for the ovens in the kitchens.

[Radio Wrangler]

It could be a motor starter switch perhaps for a fan or a cellar pump.

Those often have a recessed start button and a prominent stop button, along with an over-current cutout inside.

David

[TonyDuell]

Where is it in the house? Is it outside -- near a door, high up on the wall? Or inside -- what room, cellar, attic?

What is it made of? Painted metal, plastic?

I think I would turn the mains off at the consumer unit (fusebox) and carefully unscrew this device from the wall to see what's inside.

[trsomian]

It looks like a zero volt release on-off switch to me, though what it might control in a house I cannot imagine. Such things are routinely used in industrial situations for controlling motor driven things, but are seldom found in a domestic setting

[Station X]

Indeed. The green start button is recessed so it cannot be operated accidently, whereas the red stop button is large and protruding so it can easily be operated in an emergency.

Could it be for controlling a pump in a cellar?

[alanworland]

Have you pressed 'on'?

Alan

[PJL]

Garage door opener?

[AC/HL]

Has the house ever been anything other than residential, say a police station for instance?

[Lucien Nunes]

Agree with Kevin - a tumbler switch with pilot or locator light lens below, but with the switch removed and the hole through which the switch dolly would project covered up from the inside.

A bit like a proper electric cooker switch.

[AndiiT]

Hi, a bit of a long shot but could it be an indicator lamp to show when a remote immersion heater is switched on. One of my Great Aunties had something similar in her house.

Andrew

[hannahs radios]

Why don't you just push the button and see what happens? At worst something might go bang at best you might find it does something really cool!

[ColinTheAmpMan1]

Originally Posted by hannahs radios

Why don't you just push the button and see what happens? At worst something might go bang at best you might find it does something really cool!

Antediluvian air-conditioning? That would be cool, especially in this hot weather!
Colin

[AC/HL]

Looks to be high up, so possibly not for routine use. Is that a cable under the plaster, or a crack?

[Leith49]

Thanks for all the suggestions and apologies for my slow response - having just moved in it's not 'politic' to be seen to be 'wasting time on the net'!!

The 'thing' is localed about 5ft up in a cupboard in an upstair bedroom and there are no apparent cables to it. I agree it does look very industrial rather than domestic. I did press the protruding button and it definiately clicked in, but nothing happened. The recessed bit is solid (no give) and slightly tacky to the touch - I think Lucien is right in that it might be a covered over switch hole.

However I think Andrew might have nailed it, in that on the other side of the wall it's attached to, and from which any through wall wiring would come, is also a cupboard which has at one time clearly been an airing cupboard with a hot water cyclinder. So an indicator switch for a remote immersion heater is looking the hot favourite - until I get it off the wall! Unfortunately that's going to have to wait for a few days until I get 'approval'- I'll post my finding once I've got it stripped down.

Thanks again, looks like you guys have cracked it!

[Martin G7MRV]

Interesting to see that even 'vintage' houses all have what I and my colleagues term an 'FK' ('F* knows') switch! Theres two in my home, and try as I might I can't discover what on earth they were for! (there were three, until my wife discovered an unknown working immersion heater!)

[grampy2]

I've got at least two small switches in my 1920's bungalow none of them do anything.

[Nickthedentist]

I think you're right that it was an immersion heater switch. Or just possibly a switch for a loft light.

When was your house built?

[TonyDuell]

Originally Posted by Martin G7MRV

Interesting to see that even 'vintage' houses all have what I and my colleagues term an 'FK' ('F* knows') switch! Theres two in my home, and try as I might I can't discover what on earth they were for! (there were three, until my wife discovered an unknown working immersion heater!)

There's an unknown pull-cord switch in one of my bathrooms. I suspect it was for a now-removed shower heater, but I don't know. It seems to have no effect (and there is no detectable change in electricity meter movement no matter what state it is in, so it is not powering up any large heater now).

But this gets me on to one of my moans. I have never owned a car, but I used to look after my later father's car. We would always buy the workshop manual which of course described how to repair the car, where items were, etc. And for large/expensive electronic devices I buy the service manual (or for vintage ones I download the service manual) again so I know how to repair the device

But a house is the most expensive thing I have ever bought, it is probably the most expensive thing that most people ever buy. And it is one of the worst documented. All I got was the Land Registry information. Great if I want to argue with my neighbour that the fence is 1cm too far over (I have no intention of being so silly, of course). But no information on how the house is built (position of structural girders, etc), original runs of wiring and pipes, and the like. And it's not exactly easy to take it apart to reverse-engineer, at least not when you are living in it!.

My view is that documentation on original wiring and plumbing along with any changes that had to be notified under Part P should be provied when a house is bought or sold.