DIYdude
Member
Hi,
I'm new here, but I've fished around for info on occasion. I'm remodeling a small bathroom (about 5' x 10'), which includes adding a recessed light in the shower and radiant heat for the floor (considering 10 sq ft of SunTouch mat: 1-amp draw). My house is 36 years old, and the wiring is a bit funky. There's one 15-amp circuit powering the bathroom that has the following loads:
Lights fixtures:
- kitchen (2)
- chandelier (1)
- downstairs bathroom (1)
- deck (1)
- downstairs bedroom (2)
Outlets:
- downstairs bathroom GFCI (1)
- downstairs bedroom (1)
- upstairs bathroom GFCI (1) - probably not necessary that it be GFCI, since it feeds off the downstairs GFCI. Anyway.
- living room (1)
Other:
- downstairs bathroom fan
- kitchen range hood
Phew!
Through my investigation of this circuit, I also found that one of the receptacles has a 12/3 wire from a 20-amp circuit running to it that feeds a kitchen receptacle a few feet away. This second receptacle has 14/2 wiring feeding off the 12/3 wire; seems dangerous, but that's another story and something I'll address while I have the wall open by upgrading from 14/2 to 12/2.
(1) So, I'm trying to think through the best way to deal with the bathroom circuit. My thought was to add a 20-amp circuit for the bathroom that would power the following:
- GFCI outlet
- A switch for the shower's recessed light: As a matter of design, are shower recessed lights usually on a separate switch from vanity lights?
- Radiant floor heater
- I thought about moving the fan to the new 20-amp circuit - not sure.
(2) Since the GFCI upstairs is fed off the one downstairs, I was going to swap the 1-gang box downstairs out for a 2-gang to give myself more space to keep the 15-amp wiring as-is in the box. The GFCI upstairs would pigtail directly off the 15-amp circuit in the new 2-gang box and I'd run the 20-amp wiring to the downstairs GFCI in the same 2-gang box.
Does this make sense? Something better?
Thanks.
I'm new here, but I've fished around for info on occasion. I'm remodeling a small bathroom (about 5' x 10'), which includes adding a recessed light in the shower and radiant heat for the floor (considering 10 sq ft of SunTouch mat: 1-amp draw). My house is 36 years old, and the wiring is a bit funky. There's one 15-amp circuit powering the bathroom that has the following loads:
Lights fixtures:
- kitchen (2)
- chandelier (1)
- downstairs bathroom (1)
- deck (1)
- downstairs bedroom (2)
Outlets:
- downstairs bathroom GFCI (1)
- downstairs bedroom (1)
- upstairs bathroom GFCI (1) - probably not necessary that it be GFCI, since it feeds off the downstairs GFCI. Anyway.
- living room (1)
Other:
- downstairs bathroom fan
- kitchen range hood
Phew!
Through my investigation of this circuit, I also found that one of the receptacles has a 12/3 wire from a 20-amp circuit running to it that feeds a kitchen receptacle a few feet away. This second receptacle has 14/2 wiring feeding off the 12/3 wire; seems dangerous, but that's another story and something I'll address while I have the wall open by upgrading from 14/2 to 12/2.
(1) So, I'm trying to think through the best way to deal with the bathroom circuit. My thought was to add a 20-amp circuit for the bathroom that would power the following:
- GFCI outlet
- A switch for the shower's recessed light: As a matter of design, are shower recessed lights usually on a separate switch from vanity lights?
- Radiant floor heater
- I thought about moving the fan to the new 20-amp circuit - not sure.
(2) Since the GFCI upstairs is fed off the one downstairs, I was going to swap the 1-gang box downstairs out for a 2-gang to give myself more space to keep the 15-amp wiring as-is in the box. The GFCI upstairs would pigtail directly off the 15-amp circuit in the new 2-gang box and I'd run the 20-amp wiring to the downstairs GFCI in the same 2-gang box.
Does this make sense? Something better?
Thanks.
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