Sub Panel in bathroom

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MiamiValleyelec

Senior Member
Location
Columbus
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Master electrician, licensed contractor
Can a sub panel be located in a bathroom? I have a customer who’s main panel is in the basement and located near a toilet and sink. He’s putting up walls for his bathroom. Is it code compliant to move to main outside and turn the bathroom panel into a sub panel?

Thank you
 
240.24(E) Not Located in Bathrooms.
In dwelling units, dormitories, and guest rooms or guest suites, overcurrent devices, other than supplementary overcurrent protection, shall not be located in bathrooms
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Note that is from the 2017, the current code prohibits OCPDs from being in bathrooms no matter what the occupancy may be.
 
I’m still on the 2017 code. So I’m reading correctly that it is allowed because it’s supplementary overcurrent protection?
 
I had to add a car charger to this panel last year, my left foot was in the toilet bowl as I worked, is that unsafe? :oops: On the right side is a concrete knee wall with a makeshift stall shower. The water must splash all over the panel as they shower.

B219B4CC-BDE5-48A3-809C-A354B53948C4.jpeg
 
MiamiValleyelec said:
I’m still on the 2017 code. So I’m reading correctly that it is allowed because it’s supplementary overcurrent protection?
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That would not be considered supplementary overcurrent protection. A example of supplementary overcurrent protection would be A light fixture being fed with a 20 amp circuit that has an inline fuse that is 1 amp At the light fixture. The 1 amp fuse would be considered supplementary!
 
That’s what I was thinking but was hoping I was was wrong. He’s talking about a service upgrade. I know it wouldn’t pass if kept in the bathroom. To move it would be more than 6 ft and then I’d have to bring it up to code with arc faults. That’s a big expense
 
EeeeVeee said:
I had to add a car charger to this panel last year, my left foot was in the toilet bowl as I worked, is that unsafe?
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I just wired a basement in a 2-year old home that had the panel directly above the toilet stub. GC paid to have the bathroom floor broken up and the plumbing resituated so the the panel wouldn't be within 3 feet of any of those fixtures. That way they wouldn't have to pay to move the panel.

Then he just about puked when I told him he can't have any ocpd in the bathroom, so the panel had to be moved anyway.

but they can build a cabinet door over all those j-boxes I had to put in 😁
Screenshot_20230305_193532_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20230305_193546_Gallery.jpg
 
James L said:
49.4 cu.in. capacity
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I'm confused by your computations.

For example, one box has all the 12/2s going to it, and I count at least 6 cables (could it be 8, since you wrote 8x2.25? Not sure from the picture). With (6) 12/2s entering the box, the computation would be 12 circuit conductors, plus one for the EGCs = 13*2.25 = 29.25. Which is still fine for the box size, as would be (8) 12/2s (17 * 2.25 = 28.25).

Cheers, Wayne
 
wwhitney said:
I'm confused by your computations.

For example, one box has all the 12/2s going to it, and I count at least 6 cables (could it be 8, since you wrote 8x2.25? Not sure from the picture). With (6) 12/2s entering the box, the computation would be 12 circuit conductors, plus one for the EGCs = 13*2.25 = 29.25. Which is still fine for the box size, as would be (8) 12/2s (17 * 2.25 = 28.25).

Cheers, Wayne
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Sorry, I was in a hurry and got messed up.

6 12/2 --- I hurriedly wrote 8 because the 6 (should have been 12) the +1 for grounds and +1 for clamps because many inspectors count them even when they're not integral.
So 14 x 2.25 = 31.5 😊

The one to the left of that is (8) 14/2, so 16 +1 for grounds and +1 for clamps.
So 18 x 2 = 36

The one with the #10s is 4 conductors +1 ground and +1 clamps (which I accurately wrote 6 x 2.5) 🤔
But I did the same thing on the 14s as before 🤪
There are (4) 14/2 cables which is 8 (already counted grounds and clamps as #10s

So 6 x 2.5 = 15 and 8 x 2.0 = 16 for 31 total

Bottom is (6) 14/2 cables
12 +1 +1 = 14 for 28

I think I needed more coffee this morning 🥴
 
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