Bathroom Circuit(s)


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Old 06-20-05, 02:24 PM
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Bathroom Circuit(s)

I know that a separate circuit is required for a bathroom. Can more than one bathroom be served by the same circuit if they are on separate GFCI's?

Thanks, Joe
 
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Old 06-20-05, 02:45 PM
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I am not sure if it is allowed by code, but even if it is, I don't think I'd do that. Give every bathroom it's own circuit and put GFCI recepticles in.
 
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Old 06-20-05, 03:01 PM
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You have two options:
  1. You can put a bathroom receptacle and zero or more other things in that same bathroom on the same 20-amp circuit, as long as nothing outside that one bathroom is on the circuit.
  2. You can put one or more bathroom receptacles in one or more bathrooms on the same 20-amp circuit, as long as nothing except bathroom receptacles is on that circuit (e.g., no lighting, no fans, nothing outside a bathroom)
If your family are big hair dryer users, I would not want more than one bathroom receptacle on a 20-amp circuit.
 
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Old 06-26-05, 01:49 AM
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I was just wondering,

John, after reading your post, i was confused by the first option. Are you saying that if you use only 1 20 amp circuit for 1 bathroom you can put the outlets, the lights, and say a fan on that one circuit? I am just wonderin g because i figured a bathroom circuit was like a kitchen circuit: You have to have separate circuits for the outlets and another for the lights and fans. (kind of like the 20amp counter outlets in a kitchen are separate from everything else).

Pat
 
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Old 06-26-05, 05:44 AM
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Pat, it is exactly as John stated. If the circuit is isolated to just one bath, anything and everything in that bath may be served by the one circuit.
 
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Old 06-26-05, 02:01 PM
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i figured a bathroom circuit was like a kitchen circuit
There are a lot of bathroom codes and a lot of kitchen codes, but they are not the same codes. The details are important and you can't make any assumptions.
 
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Old 06-26-05, 05:27 PM
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thanks

I thought the bathroom was as strict as the kitchen as far as dedicated circuits considering there can be large electrical usage in a bathroom. but thanks for the info.

Pat
 
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Old 06-26-05, 05:36 PM
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patbsn,

The code is specific on the Kitchen and Bathroom and they do share a few things in common ( here are some but not all )

1.) Both require GFCI on the counter ( bathroom being within 6' and so on ) where as the entire countertop for the kitchen has to be GFCI.

2.) The countertops and the bathroom recepts need to be 20A..so they have that in common....However as John has stated it goes past that with regards to bathrooms....( basically I will be brief..so I may leave something out )

a.) The bathroom recept. circuit shall have no other outlets outside the bathroom on its GFCI. Unless their is only (1) bathroom which in that case the lighting in the room can also be on the same circuit....BUT it can't leave the bathroom. ( ie: you cant pop out and wire a bedroom recept..lol )

And I digress......basically both have dedicated circuits where as the countertop in the kitchen requires a minimum of (2) 20A circuits on the counter...in the bathroom it requires (1) 20A circuit and nothing else on it BUT the bathroom GFCI's.....unless again as stated their is only (1) bathroom being serviced then the lighting and so on can be on the circuit as well .....but how many homes today are getting built with only (1) bathroom...lol

So in closing...I think what is being said here is you can't assume one code applies to the kitchen will automatically apply to a bathroom....where they are simular in that even the 20A circuits in the kitchen can't technically leave the kitchen much like the bathroom system......the differences should not be overlooked.
 

Last edited by ElectricalMan; 06-26-05 at 06:17 PM. Reason: Had to stop the lightning...thehehehe
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Old 06-26-05, 06:04 PM
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Hey ElectricalMan,

How does one contain lightning to the bathroom? I kind of thought that once it gets in the house it does what it wants, regardless of what you or I or the homeowner wants it to do...
 
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Old 06-26-05, 06:16 PM
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lololol.....man ...me and my typos....thats why I love you Rac and John as well....pickin on me like that helps me become better at grammer...lol...

here is the funny thing Rac....I type lightning all day because I am the inventor of a brand of dog fence that I also service when they are hit by lightning...lol..so I have lightning on the brain...lol
 
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Old 06-26-05, 09:11 PM
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cool..

thanks for the great info (and they say curiosity kills the cat... my guess is it could save a few of them too)... and i'll beware of the lightning.... can't be too careful ;-).
 
 

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