Distribution board in toilet

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shujath36

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A new customer came to me and said that his contractor laid the electrical conduits on the slab all directing to a toilet. That is he made the distribution board in toilet literally. All the laying conduits work is finished and now the customer need any other alternative in the present situation. He don't want to roll back the installations done. So is there is any way out so that the control panel going in toilet can be turned in right way without changing the conduits already installed on the slab

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As long as this equipment does not include the service disconnect and can be provided with required clearances it is not an NEC violation for it to be located in a bathroom.

If you decided to move it I do not really understand what you are asking.
 
Are you saying literally in the toilet, or just in the water closet (i.e. room with flush toilet)?

If the former, I'd have to think either the plumber would have noticed the conduits or electrician would have noticed closet flange... before the slab was poured. Must just be some people out there that could care less about others' problems.
 
Smart $ said:
Are you saying literally in the toilet, or just in the water closet (i.e. room with flush toilet)?

If the former, I'd have to think either the plumber would have noticed the conduits or electrician would have noticed closet flange... before the slab was poured. Must just be some people out there that could care less about others' problems.
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I was going there too but there's no good way to ask the question.
The term "water closet" does mean the fixture (which you sit on to do your business) and the term derives from the early days of indoor plumbing when the place to install that fixture was indeed a closet because it had the small space requisite to do what you need to do and afford privacy at the same time.

I think the OP is a Brit and I think over there "toilet" means a room with a water closet in it, in which case the post asks if the equipment can be located in a bathroom as we here on this side of the pond would say.

In the plumbing code we have fixture count requirements for "water closets", lavatories (sinks), drinking fountains, etc.
 
mgookin said:
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I think the OP is a Brit and I think over there "toilet" means a room with a water closet in it, in which case the post asks if the equipment can be located in a bathroom as we here on this side of the pond would say.
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Over 'ere its the other way 'round chap. A toilet is the fixture while a water closet can mean either the toilet itself or the room which contains it.
 
mgookin said:
I was going there too but there's no good way to ask the question.
The term "water closet" does mean the fixture (which you sit on to do your business) and the term derives from the early days of indoor plumbing when the place to install that fixture was indeed a closet because it had the small space requisite to do what you need to do and afford privacy at the same time.

I think the OP is a Brit and I think over there "toilet" means a room with a water closet in it, in which case the post asks if the equipment can be located in a bathroom as we here on this side of the pond would say.

In the plumbing code we have fixture count requirements for "water closets", lavatories (sinks), drinking fountains, etc.
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Having given his location as "GB", I'd have to go with that assumption. That being said, he'd be better off getting a response from Tony S or Besoeker for the particulars on British electrical/building codes.
 
gadfly56 said:
Having given his location as "GB", I'd have to go with that assumption. That being said, he'd be better off getting a response from Tony S or Besoeker for the particulars on British electrical/building codes.
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Good point.

gadfly56 said:
IIRC, it was a Brit by the name of John Jakes (sp?). Hence in the British Isles you "Go to the jakes" to do your business.
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Actually I had it wrong (before I even posted it). I was told as a kid that a guy named John Crapper invented it. Now that I look, he did not and there is no John Crapper. There is a guy named Crapper who did many improvements on the toilet just as Edison did many improvements on the light bulb. The guy named John is the guy who invented the flush toilet. Hence in America we go to the john to crap.
 
Being distribution board it has circuit breakers for different circuits spreading to the house. So one possibility is to change the toilet to some store room!!!

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More likely looking for the name Thomas Crapper, who did not invent the flush toilet but did improve it and dominated the British throne market for many years.
 
iwire said:
As long as this equipment does not include the service disconnect and can be provided with required clearances it is not an NEC violation for it to be located in a bathroom.
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Let me start by admitting that I do not know what was originally meant by "distribution board." When I see that phrase, I infer that it would contain overcurrent devices. If that is the case, and if this is a dwelling unit, a dormitory, or a guest room/suite, then you would have a violation of 240.24(E). If on the other hand this is some kind of control panel, and it contains no overcurrent devices other than "supplemental overcurrent protection," a phrase that I do not fully understand, then I would agree with Bob's answer.

 
Smart $ said:
Think of it as OCPD after the branch circuit wiring and integral with the utilization equipment.
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That much I had guessed. But where are such things used, and why? That is what I don't understand.

 
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charlie b said:
That much I had guessed. But where are such things used, and why? That is what I don't understand.
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Use to be used all the time in electronic gear. Stereo receivers, for example, had that round knob-looking thing on the back panel, near the cord restraint, marked FUSE. There's lot of other stuff quite simililar, just can't think of any off the top of my head. Hardly seen on so-called consumer-level equipment any more... more so seen on pro-level only equipment.

Perhaps a hardier example is a machine skid with integral main breaker or fused disconnecting means.
 
A "Distribution Board" in GB is what we call a "Load Center".

So if this DB is in an INTERIOR wall, can you just reverse it to put the cover on the other wall instead of in the toilet (room)? There shouldn't be any prohibition for putting the conductors in the wall of a bathroom, but here, you cannot locate the protective devices there. Here in the US, it was however at one time somewhat common. Often in really old houses, it was the result of the fact that electricity was run into the house BEFORE it had indoor plumbing, so when they wanted to add an indoor toilet, they sometimes used the electrical / utility closet. It was outlawed here in 1993.
 
charlie b said:
That much I had guessed. But where are such things used, and why? That is what I don't understand.
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Smart $ said:
Use to be used all the time in electronic gear. Stereo receivers, for example, had that round knob-looking thing on the back panel, near the cord restraint, marked FUSE. There's lot of other stuff quite simililar, just can't think of any off the top of my head. Hardly seen on so-called consumer-level equipment any more... more so seen on pro-level only equipment.

Perhaps a hardier example is a machine skid with integral main breaker or fused disconnecting means.
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Even if not part of the equipment, there are small little DIN rail "breakers" designed to IEC standards that do not pass UL489 as what we call "Circuit Breakers". So to allow their use, UL created a new classification called UL1077 "Supplementary Protectors". They are essentially the same as our CBs, but don't pass all of the UL489 test requirements. The use is for when the trip thresholds are significantly different than a UL489 listed breaker, most commonly implemented when the trip value is a lot lower than the 15A minimum size you can get. The thing is, to use them they must be backed up by either a fuse or a UL489 listed breaker up stream. So for example if I have a panel with devices that need single pole 1A circuit breakers, I can use a bunch of those Supplementary Protectors on a DIN rail all fed from the same single pole 15A UL489 circuit breaker.
 
Smart $ said:
Use to be used all the time in electronic gear. Stereo receivers, for example, had that round knob-looking thing on the back panel, near the cord restraint, marked FUSE. There's lot of other stuff quite simililar, just can't think of any off the top of my head. Hardly seen on so-called consumer-level equipment any more... more so seen on pro-level only equipment.

Perhaps a hardier example is a machine skid with integral main breaker or fused disconnecting means.
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You still find them in fire alarm control panels.
 
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