bathroom dedicated circuit


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Old 04-17-07, 09:17 AM
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bathroom dedicated circuit

I have a very small bathroom, with a pedestal sink (base won't fit). Directly in front of the sink to the right corner I have a GFI Plug and a switch that runs off to the exhaust fan, all of which is on the same circuit as the lights and many other rooms. I am aware that to todays standards that is against code. My first question is, how does the dedicated circuit work for the bathroom. Can I have the exhaust fan, lights and plug on its own circuit? And also what is the required AMP 15 or 20? My second question is, I know that the placement of the plug says adjacent to the sink, is it ok that I have it in front of the sink and in the right corner (most houses I have seen set up this way). It seems that whether it is in that corner or to the right of the sink it is the same distance away, in fact it seems safer where I have it.
 
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Old 04-17-07, 09:36 AM
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There are two ways that the receptacles in bathrooms may be powered.

You may run a 20 amp circuit to the bathroom and power the receptacle(s) in the bathroom with this circuit. You may also power any other loads in the same bathroom on this circuit, such as lights, vents, heaters, etc.

OR


You may run a 20 amp circuit to the bathroom and power the receptacle(s) in the bathroom on this circuit. This same 20 amp circuit may power the receptacles in any other bathrooms in the house.
 
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Old 04-17-07, 09:39 AM
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Excellent, thanks for the fast response. Right now it is all 15 amp so I guess I better change the wire over to 12-2.
 
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Old 04-17-07, 11:37 AM
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All bathroom receptacles must be on 20-amp circuits. But you have two main options with regard to the circuit that the bathroom receptacles are on:

Option (1): Anything else in the same bathroom may be on the same circuit as a bathroom receptacle as long as nothing outside this one bathroom is on the circuit.

Option (2): Receptacles in more than one bathroom may be on the same circuit as long as nothing except bathroom receptacles are on that circuit.

Code requires at least one GFCI-protected receptacle within 36" of the rim of each sink. It can be in any direction from that rim (e.g., on the back wall or on a side wall).

Note: I got distracted and it was two hours between the time I typed this post and when I posted it.
 
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Old 04-17-07, 01:41 PM
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Is your current wiring 14ga? Sometimes they will wire the house with 12ga and use 15 amp breaker.

As you already know, if you have 20amp breaker, it has to be 12ga.
 
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Old 04-18-07, 06:51 AM
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yeah it currently is 14 guage on a 15amp breaker. It is also that old BX from 1952 that crumbles as you touch it, so I have no problem changing all the wire. Slowly I have been doing one room at a time, I guess this is some more motivation to finish another room!
 
 

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