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lonewolf20_gw

bathroom wiring

18 years ago

I'm trying to rewire my bathroom. Here is what I've done so far.I have a 15 amp circuit that supplies power to my bathroom fan,light and nite light. I used 12-2 and 12-3 wire for this curcuit. Now I would like to wire 2 vanity lights 2 outlets with the lights to be switched and then extend this circuit to the laundry room to suppy a light and one outlet. I plan to use 12-2 wire for this since I have it. Does this circuit need to be 20amp or can I make it 15 amp? The second circuit will be seperate from the 1st. thanks for any help.

Comments (10)

  • 18 years ago

    The circuit for the bathroom receptacle is required to be a dedicated 20A circuit. The bathroom lights and fan may be on this circuit, but if so, that circuit may only serve that bathroom. The laundry requires its own dedicated 20A circuit for the receptacles.

  • 18 years ago

    I'm actually working on a similar project as lonewolf20. Here's my question - How many wires you are allowed to join in one junction box?

    Also would you ever place a light switch at the end of the GFCI circuit?

    Just because I'm curious, why does the laundry require it's own dedicated 20A circuit if only an electric washer is hooked up?

  • 18 years ago

    You are limited by the volume of the box and all the rules for computing box fill.

    The laundry circuit could include the washer, an iron, and other associated laundry equipment.

  • 18 years ago

    Agree with Normel on questions 1 & 3.
    Question 2 is unanswerable as asked. What do you mean by "place a light switch at the end of the GFCI circuit"?

  • 17 years ago

    ok thanks for the response. i've been side tracked now I'm back to this. ok I'm confused you say i need a dedicated 20 amp circuit for the bathroom outlet. but then you say I can be on the same circuit as the fan and light? heres what I've done so far. I have a bathroom fan,light ,nite light combo on a 20amp circuit. If I understand right I can add the vanity lights and 2 outlets for the bathroom on the same circuit. But the laundry room has to be separate.

  • 17 years ago

    A bathroom must have a GFCI protected receptacle on a 20A circuit.

    This can serve other loads (lights, etc) in that bathroom, but nothing outside the bathroom.

    OR that circuit can serve nothing but receptacles in one or more bathrooms, and in that case it cannot have any other type of load (e.g., lights) on it. This option is not as practical if you have multiple persons in the house using hair appliances.

  • 17 years ago

    The 20 amp circuit must serve only the bathroom. You have it correct now. Orginally you wanted to also serve the laundry room. That is not permitted for two reasons. The laundry requires a separate circuit and the bath requires a separate circuit.

  • 17 years ago

    I find in my area that outside plugs are GFI'd by the bath GFIs. Usually the front in in a bath and the rear is in the garage.

  • 17 years ago

    In the early days of GFCI, one was permitted to serve all the places it was required (bathrooms, outside).

    That's not been the case in several NEC revisions. As Billhart said, the bathroom receptacles must be on 20A circuits that can not be shared (they can be shared only with non-receptacle outlets in the same bathroom OR receptacles in other bathrooms, not both, anything outside the bathroom is right-out). The laundry as joed points out also needs it's own 20A circuit.

  • 17 years ago

    In addition to what ronnatalie said, if it was to code when installed and you don,t change anything, it is still to code. In other words, if half the house is on a GFCI, to code when installed, and you don't change anything, you're perfectly legal.