Bathrooms

[kpukylo]

I just failed a rough inspection with a problem that
I can not find any thing wrong with and had been doing it this way for about 8 or 10 yrs now.
The bathrooms in this house each have a seperate 20amp receptacle circuit, the showers have recessed lights so we feed out of the gfci to the switch and then to the light. So the shower light is now protected, my under standing is that once you feed somthing else in the bathroom you can not feed another bathroom, which we did not. Now the other light fixtures in the bathrooms ( vanity and fan) are fed off a 15 amp branch circuit. The inspector is telling me that I have to feed the whole bathroom on the 20 amp circuit. Or remove the shower fixture from the protected circuit. Does this make sence to any one?

 

[jeff43222]

Re: Bathrooms

It sounds to me like the inspector is wrong in this case.

The rule is that the 20A circuit that feeds bathroom receptacles can go to more than one bathroom if the circuit only contains bathroom receptacles. You can feed other outlets (lights, fan, etc.) from the circuit only if that circuit is confined to a single bathroom.

From your description, it sounds to me like your installation is code-compliant.

[ November 10, 2005, 08:09 AM: Message edited by: jeff43222 ]

 

[JohnE]

Re: Bathrooms

The situation you describe is compliant with nec.

 

[LarryFine]

Re: Bathrooms

210.11 Branch Circuits Required.(C) Dwelling Units.
(3) Bathroom Branch Circuits. In addition to the number of branch circuits required by other parts of this section, at least one 20-ampere branch circuit shall be provided to supply the bathroom receptacle outlet(s). Such circuits shall have no other outlets.
Exception: Where the 20-ampere circuit supplies a single bathroom, outlets for other equipment within the same bathroom shall be permitted to be supplied in accordance with 210.23(A).

It does not say that ALL other equipment must be supplied by this circuit. However, one could argue that, even with the above exception, only other receptacles in that bathroom may be supplied by this circuit, because of the exception below:

210.23 Permissible Loads.
(A) 15- and 20-Ampere Branch Circuits. A 15- or 20-ampere branch circuit shall be permitted to supply lighting units or other utilization equipment, or a combination of both, and shall comply with 210.23(A)(1) and (A)(2).
Exception: The small appliance branch circuits, laundry branch circuits, and bathroom branch circuits required in a dwelling unit(s) by 210.11(C)(1), (2), and (3) shall supply only the receptacle outlets specified in that section.

This could be a conflicting situation.

[ November 10, 2005, 09:44 AM: Message edited by: LarryFine ]

 

[rcarroll]

Re: Bathrooms

Occasionally, I try to B.S. someone who is gullible & in no way who has access to this site.

 

[kpukylo]

Re: Bathrooms

thank you all

Larry, I do see your point but the inspector is basicly telling me that if I feed the lighting in that bathroom I have to feed all the lighting or none. Also, do I really have to GFCI the shower light when it hase a approved shower trim?

 

[marc deschenes]

Re: Bathrooms

There is no NEC requirement for this, look to the installation instructions for the answer

 

[al hildenbrand]

Re: Bathrooms

Originally posted by rcarroll:
Occasionally, I try to B.S. someone who is gullible & in no way who has access to this site.

[ November 10, 2005, 02:32 PM: Message edited by: al hildenbrand ]

 

[mvannevel]

Re: Bathrooms

Originally posted by kpukylo:


Larry, I do see your point but the inspector is basicly telling me that if I feed the lighting in that bathroom I have to feed all the lighting or none.

I guess I don't really see Larry's point or the inspectors point. The exception to 210.23(A) simply refers you back to 210.11(C)(3) which contains the exception which allows you to supply other outlets in the same bathroom if that bathroom receptacle circuit supplies a single bathroom. Nowhere does it say that the bathroom can't be supplied from multiple branch circuits. That is, after all, what you're doing when you put the receptacle on a 20 ampere circuit and feed the lighting outlets with a 15 ampere circuit. I've okay'd this same installation on numerous occasions because it's perfectly code compliant. I'm guessing that the inspector didn't cite a code reference for you so you might want to ask him (in a polite way) if he could provide one.

 

[LarryFine]

Re: Bathrooms

I just like pointing stuff like that out. It looks like a round-robin issue.

If I was less than clear, my opinion is also that the entire bathroom need not be supplied by a single circuit, even if other than the receptacle is supplied by one circuit.

 

[geezer]

Re: Bathrooms

I do see the point also Larry. Reading through that is like watching a dog chasing his own tail.