So, I killed one White series switch

I have a newly-acquired house under renovations. First phase was re-writing for copper (was aluminum), the plan for which incorporated 10 White Series switches initially. They’ve been decent aside from annoyances with HomeKit which is purely Apple’s shortcoming.

Yesterday I was prepping for the next phase which is drywall and mud being done by a professional. In one room I had one wall I had to finish de-wallpapering for which I use the Roman products. In my haste to get the job done I chose to tape up the switch and thermostat on that wall and be as careful as possible about where I was spraying the fluid. In hinsight I should’ve removed the switch from the box but I didn’t.

Long story short, what amounted to a drop of fluid managed to get behind the switch rocker and caused it to reboot. When it came back online the down function on the rocker ceased to function. I reset the switch and same issue. I pulled the tape and the switch was dry on the outside. I shut off the breaker and pulled the switch out, removed the rocker and confirmed what amounted to a drop of fluid around whatever that taped area is there.

Obviously these things aren’t meant to be wet and this was ultimately my fault, though I leave this as a word of caution. To be clear the switch didn’t have a faceplate on it and hasn’t since install, and this likely aided with the fluid intrusion.

1 Like

I’m actually having to take out the remaining 9 switches we’ve deployed and replace them temporarily with dumb switches.

My mudder/drywaller refuses to work in those related areas knowing how sensitive these devies are.

Poor planning on my part & I’m not criticizing the tech, merely leaving a word of caution for prosterity. If you’re activley doing renovations, leave these switches out of the equation until the end. Like Gremlins – do not get them wet, even slightly.