Have a steam generator/shower combo installed in a master bathroom. The junction box of the Unit is a 3 conductor (2 power and 1 ground) connection. There is a pull out disconnect switch located close to the Unit and there is also a 6' grounding rod buried in the ground and attached (via a ground wire) to the lower metal frame/stand of the Unit. Trying to assess whether a GFCI is needed for the Unit or not as there are conflicting opinions out there. MrSteam's (steam generator manufacturer) blog says no GFI is needed. Also doing a search with Google Bard (the new AI search tool) indicates the same thing i.e. no GFCI requirement. On the other hand there are some blogs/forums that indicate a GFCI is needed. Can not find any specific section in the NEC code that deals with steam showers/generators. Does anyone know of the requirement and the basis for it? Even if a GFCI is installed how would you do it with no neutral coming back to the panel from the Unit?
GFCI requirement for a steam shower
- Thread starter akde
- Start date
- Status
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
No gfci is needed assuming the unit is directly wired, but if required, a gfci would work without a load-side neutral. Whoever drove a ground rod, and at 6', is not really understanding the purpose of the ground rod. It s totally unnecessary.
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
Huh, hadn't heard of Google Bard. I tried it on this question, here's what it said (including superfluous info I didn't ask for, which is probably how I would have responded!)
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
That may be the reason the manufacturer states not to install gfci. If the manufacturer says no gfci and the NEC doesn't require a gfci circuit then I would not install one.
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
I guess I was reacting to this...MrSteam's (steam generator manufacturer) blog says no GFI is needed.
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
Unit is UL listed, installation instructions for it do not require GFCI, you are good to go, but still subject to OTHER conditions..
To whit; if Mr. Steam is not in the bathroom, how is it any different than an electric water heater? So no GFCI required no matter what. If it IS in the bathroom and plugged into an outlet, then I think it would require one, just like a jetted bathtub. In the bathroom and hard wired? I don't know any more with the latest changes in the Code (and too lazy to research it), so I would probably err on the side of safety.
Also: the name reminds me of this...
I’ve never seen the steam generator for a steam shower actually in the bathroom. Always behind a wall in an adjacent space or in the basement.
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
Hard wired in a bathroom is not an issue
letgomywago
Senior Member
- Location
- Washington state and Oregon coast
- Occupation
- residential electrician
Class a is 5ma +or- 1 ma and it what is used for protection of personnel. The class b and class c are for heat tape and old pools and protection of equipment.
Engineers shouldn't be asking diy here.
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
As far as I know, class B no longer exists and Class C is a Special Purpose GFCI designed for use on circuits that operate at higher voltages than a Class A device. The Class C has a 20 mA trip but at a specified time. There are three classes of Special Purpose GFCIs, those being C, D, and E. They are covered by UL 943C. Class A GFCIs are covered by UL 943.
The equipment protection type of ground fault devices have no secific requirements for trip time or the trip point, but the trip point shall be withing the range of 6 to 100 mA, and are not used for people protection. These are covered by UL 1053.
In both cases, if the devices are breakers, they are also covered by UL 489.
letgomywago
Senior Member
- Location
- Washington state and Oregon coast
- Occupation
- residential electrician
Class c are used for heated drive ways I did one in 2015 that used them
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
I tend to doubt that as they are not a breaker type device...they are huge external boxes. There are no classes for the equipment protection ground fault devices.
letgomywago
Senior Member
- Location
- Washington state and Oregon coast
- Occupation
- residential electrician
There were 2 boxes that connected to the equipment and had contractors in them. Must have been them then
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
Those were probably just the power controllers...Class C Special Purpose GFCIs are very rare and very expensive.
- Location
- Tennessee NEC:2017
- Occupation
- Semi-Retired Electrician
The OP's concerns have been addressed. We can't go further without getting into DIY.
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