I think the 20 amp bathroom circuit rule was added in the '93 or '96 code but I'm not positive. As was already pointed out, people started using high-wattage hair dryers and curling irons thus requiring the need for a higher amperage circuit.
It's perfectly acceptable to do this. However, it presents a convenience problem. If you have 4 bathrooms in a residence and you install the GFI in the bathroom closest to the breaker panel, if you're in one of the 2nd floor bathrooms and you trip the GFI you'll have to go down to the 1st floor bathroom and reset it. By the same token you can use a GFI circuit breaker (a bit more expensive) but this has 2 down sides : 1) if the breaker trips you'll have to go down to the breaker panel to reset and 2) If the breaker trips you won't know if it's a ground fault problem or an overload.
We use to do this but found many happier customers when they dont have to go to other bathroom to reset it before they get there hair dried. We now keep GFCI's in same room with the receptacle/'s that there protecting.
This sounds idiotic. It's a poor job for the customer. A gfi costs $11.00. Running one circuit from bath to bath can't be much cheaper than that. This is like driving five miles to find a gas station so you can save three cents a gallon.
Does it use resistive heat or does it use heat lamps? What's the model #? I've got a mac daddy Broan H/V/L/NL but it specifies 20-amp dedicated circuit. The irritating part is the heater portion is backstabbed at the factory switch! I've been out of the trade long enough that I thought there was a difference between Nutone & Broan. When I called about the backstab situation I found out that Nutone swallowed Broan, but chooses to use the Broan brand name. In the old days Nutone was aces, and Broan was tract stuff.
