Requirements for bathroom circuits

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jimb

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The NEC is pretty clear in its definition of a bathroom as well as the electrical requirements for such rooms but I'm wondering if these requirements/definitions are explicit enough. What provoked this is the following scenario (or ones like it):

New construction with an upstairs bath basically consisting of three rooms. From the hallway, you would enter the 'main' room which would contain two vanities/basins and a fair amount of walking space (probably 8'x8') as well as a linen closet. On the left side of this area there is a doorway leading to the tub/shower area which is also about 8'x8' and contains nothing but the built in tub/shower, and will probably have a bench of some sort to be a changing room. On the opposite side of the 'main' room there is yet another doorway which would lead to the toilet area. Much smaller and contains only the toilet and a small closet. In the case of this example, let's say that the homeowner wants 125V receptacle outlets to be installed in each of these 'rooms'.

What I'm wondering is whether or not these three rooms would meet the definition of a bathroom per the NEC (an area including a basin . . .) and thus have to meet the electrical requirements for bathrooms. Personally, I think it's obvious and anyone worth their salt, IMHO, would treat all three of the 'rooms' as a bathroom and wire them accordingly but the devil's advocate in me wants to say "what is an area?". Strictly speaking, could each of these rooms be considered to be in the same area even if they are separated by walls and doors?

On a related topic, I believe that a room that contains only a tub/shower should at least require GFCI protection for receptacles within some distance (maybe 6ft?) of the tub. I've heard of proposals to expand the GFCI requirements for sinks but have there been any for tubs?

Maybe I worry too much, but I would like to hear some other opinions on this.

Thanks for reading,

Jim
 
Re: Requirements for bathroom circuits

What you have is one bathroom and only required receptacles is those at the sink,any others are your own option and this entire room could be on one 20 amp circuit ,lights and receptacles
 
Re: Requirements for bathroom circuits

I agree in this situation, for this example, the only required receptacle outlets would be those for the sink(s). I also feel any additional receptacles would be required to be be GFCI protected. And I guess the code does permit other outlets to be served from the one 20A branch circuit in and for that bathroom only.

However, if you want to do it right, you would install a dedicated 20A branch circuit for any and all receptacle outlets in that bathroom. These should also be GFCI protected and 20A rated. Any lighting or other outlets should be on a separate dedicated or general purpose circuit.

The code is so minimal in regard to bathroom requirements and the exceptions are confusing. I wouldn't try to "beat" the code by trying to convince myself that a door makes an area a separate room. Bathroom-type things take place in each area so therefor should be handle as if just one big bathroom.
 
Re: Requirements for bathroom circuits

Jim and Bryan, thanks for your replies.

I agree with both of you that all three rooms should be treated as a single bathroom and I'm pretty sure that most everyone else would agree with that. It's just that with the sprawling bathrooms in some of the custom homes today I think the area gets a little harder to define.

As another example, take two adjacent bedrooms each with a doorway leading to a separate bathroom with only a basin and toilet. Then each of these 'half-baths' has a doorway leading to a common tub/shower area. On the plans, these areas were labeled Bath 1, Bath 2, and Shower Room. Would these be considered to be two separate bathrooms, or would the entire 'area' be one bathroom? In my case, I considered them two separate bathrooms, and although not neccessarily required, I pulled two 20A circuits. However, if the plans had called for a shower light, I would have wanted to feed it off of the GFCI protected branch from one of the bathrooms . . . would that have been a violation?

In another case, I had a large room off of a master bedroom that had a double bowl vanity, whirlpool tub and shower. Leading off of it was a small 'throne room' with the toilet and a small vanity and basin. The throne room also had a doorway leading to the hallway (it also served as the downstairs 'public' bathroom). Each of these areas, taken individually, meet the definition of a bathroom per the NEC so should they be counted as separate bathrooms? In this case also, I counted them as two separate bathrooms.

The code requirements are only minimums and I expect to exceed them where practical with regard to safety and performance so I do what I feel that I should do, but in some of these cases I'm unsure as to what the code actually requires.

Any other thoughts would be appreciated,

Jim
 
Re: Requirements for bathroom circuits

The 2002 NEC Handbook - 210.8(A)(1) commentary indicates that the 'entire' area (lavs, toilets, showers) is considered the bathroom, whether separated by a door or not.

The NEC Handbook is not 'the code', but most AHJ's I've encountered will use the handbook to assist in making their interpretations.
 
Re: Requirements for bathroom circuits

Jim, the definition of bathroom is the following: "an area including a basin with one ore more of the following: a toilet, a tub, or a shower" Article 100

The point is you MUST have a basin with something else. Technically a "throne room" would not be considered a bathroom, but depending on the arrangement you must reference to Article 210.8(A)(1), where the note says the following:
"the term applies to the entire area whether a separating door, as illustrated in Exhibit 210.9, is present or not"

On your example of two half baths and a shower room, each of the half baths have their own basin and toilet, both are in accordance with the definition of bathroom, so each one is considered a separate bathroom. The Shower room is an adjacent area of each individual bathroom. You have to run two separate circuits to each bath.

On your second example, once again, each bathroom area fully complies with the definition of bathroom, so each once counts as a separate bathroom. you have to run two separate bathroom circuit.
 
Re: Requirements for bathroom circuits

There is nothing in the code that requires a dedicated circuit to each bathroom. One could serve as many recepatcle outlets in as many bathrooms as they wish from one 20A branch circuit.

If you plan on serving other outlets in any one bathroom, than the circuit must stay in that bathroom and cannot serve any other loads outside the room.

Again, I don't care what you call a specific area in a bathroom. If one were to install a receptacle outlet in a "throne room", I would expect it to be on a 20A bathroom circuit and GFCI protected. All areas that are used as a bathroom should be treated as a bathroom, regardless if a door separates areas within the bathroom.
 
Re: Requirements for bathroom circuits

On houses that are this complex in bath issues i would run 2 circuits,one for all receptacles and 1 just for lights.Easy fast and cheap.And the lighting could be from any general lighting circuit and 15 or 20 amp circuit.The last thing you want is a customer complaining that if all the bath lights are on the breaker trips with hair dryer.I reserve the one circuit for all for the normal 5 ft by 8 ft bath with 1 shower can and 1 vanity light.
 
Re: Requirements for bathroom circuits

Jim i sent you a link last year that was a masterbath we did that was 1250 sq ft. the Bed rm. was an additional 1000 sq ft. a bath room, is a bath room that`s why plans are required to be posted.If part of a bathroom any receptacles must be 20 amp gfci protectedCall it a throne room or what ever it is what it is a bath room.
 
Re: Requirements for bathroom circuits

My parent's home (built in 1984) has 15 amp circuits in all of the bathrooms. The breaker has never once tripped when my sister uses her hairdryer.

In my opinion, running more than one receptacle circuit into a bathroom is nonsense.
 
Re: Requirements for bathroom circuits

Originally posted by electricmanscott:
Why 20 amp rated receptacles?
Click to expand...
I just feel that if the code requires a 20A branch circuit, then 20A conductors and 20A devices should be used. The use of 15A rated devices essentially limits the circuit to a 15A rated circuit. Also, many new bathroom appliances exceed 12A running load. This violates Table 210.21(B)(2).

Originally posted by pete r d:My parent's home (built in 1984) has 15 amp circuits in all of the bathrooms. The breaker has never once tripped when my sister uses her hairdryer.
Click to expand...
It has less to due with breakers tripping and more to due with conductor life. It is unknown how long 15A conductors will remain properly insulated and in safe operating condition during several years of overloading. Most home electrical systems are expected to last the life of the home. However, with slight overloading over several years, maybe dozens of years, conductor insulation will eventually fail and need replacing. This may be avoided by installing larger than required conductors and ensuring underloading of systems.

My guess is within 10 years or so, we will learn what the total extent of problem aging electrical systems will be. I for one think it will be more crtical than can be imagined.
 
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