Hospital Grade Recept.???

[davelectric]

Are hospital grade GFI devices required in a residents bath room of a nursing home? Each resident has a bath room within their private room that contains a sink and a toilet some have showers. 517.18B requires hospital grade at the bed locations, or is it the intent for them to be in the General Care Areas?

 

[roger]

Re: Hospital Grade Recept.???

No, HG receps are only needed at the "Patient Bed" Location.

See 517.18(B) and 517.19(B)(2)

Roger

 

[rick hart]

Re: Hospital Grade Recept.???

The deal with HG receptacles is they have stronger contact points than other grades.....and a cute little green dot.
This makes them more robust and able to take the abuse of constant plugging and unplugging found by the patient bedside. The second thing is that grades other than HG are to be tested annually for contact pressure in many locations besides bedside. HG receptacles can be tested based on "performance" rather than schedule- mean time between failures being the benchmark for frequency or when altered for whatever reason.

Either way, HG GFCI in a nursing home bathroom is not required by NEC. However, they may be required by the job specifications. Many healthcare facilities specify HG everywhere, even administration areas, to avoid the prescribed annual testing requirement.