bathroom wiring; one circuit?

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thegallery

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I'm wiring a small bathroom I have:

Hunter 100 CFM fan with 100watt light
Saniflo Saniplus up-flush toilet. (think it is 7amp) (needs GFI circuit)
One outlet by sink for blow dryer /shaver

I'd like to send one line to the sink outlet which wold be GFI can make the rest of the circuit GFI. So then it would lead off that to the second outlet for the toilet and then to the fan/light and switch.

Can I run this all on one 15amp circuit with 14/2 wire? I'm not sure with the power ratings of each if I have to split it up. The people from Saniflo said it was fine, but I know my garbage disposal has it's own 15amp 12-2 line, so I'm thinking I might have to do something different with this line.

Any thoughts? Tks
 

Chris75

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Bathroom receptacles require a 20 amp circuit, (12-2 wire) but you can feed the rest of the bath off of that circuit, but the circuit cannot leave that bathroom.

Personally, I would pull a 12-3, one circuit for the bath receptacle, and the other circuit for the rest of the bath room, just a design preference of course.
 
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thegallery

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Thanks Chris,

It's a very small bathroom under the stairs, but it has a shower and therefore the fan is very important in that small space.

Unfortunately my book mentions a bathroom circuit 4 times, and in the write up it says 20amp circuit, but in the picture captions it says 15amp!

I've also read on here that it's OK to use 15amp outlets on a 20amp circuit as long as you use more than one. I don't quite understand that either. But my guess, to be safe, is to use 20amp outlets.

I didn't want to use 12-3 because i wanted to use the first GFI receptacle to GFI protect the entire circuit, including the fan, and I thought locating the outlet in the bathroom would be easier than in the box; if it ever trips...

On a side note, I also see that in some cases, like in a kitchen small appliance circuit, you can use a GFI outlet to protect the rest of the circuit. but in other cases every outlet is a separate GFI. Is the reason for thisso you don't trip the whole ciruit, just individual locations? I suppose it makes sense if your mixer trips the circuit you don't have to reset the coffee maker clock :)
 

Chris75

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Thanks Chris,



Unfortunately my book mentions a bathroom circuit 4 times, and in the write up it says 20amp circuit, but in the picture captions it says 15amp!

The Circuit has to be 20 amps, but the receptacle can be rated at 15 amps.




I've also read on here that it's OK to use 15amp outlets on a 20amp circuit as long as you use more than one. I don't quite understand that either. But my guess, to be safe, is to use 20amp outlets.

A duplex receptacle is more than one outlet. ;) so a 15 amp duplex would be okay on a 20 amp circuit.


I didn't want to use 12-3 because i wanted to use the first GFI receptacle to GFI protect the entire circuit, including the fan, and I thought locating the outlet in the bathroom would be easier than in the box; if it ever trips...

The fan would only require GFCI protection if it was installed above the shower/tub area, but still your choice.


On a side note, I also see that in some cases, like in a kitchen small appliance circuit, you can use a GFI outlet to protect the rest of the circuit. but in other cases every outlet is a separate GFI. Is the reason for thisso you don't trip the whole ciruit, just individual locations? I suppose it makes sense if your mixer trips the circuit you don't have to reset the coffee maker clock :)

I dont know why people do what they do, but code requires all receptacles serving the countertop to be GFCI protected, how you do it is entirely up to the installer.
 

thegallery

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while I've got you Chris; if you wouldn't mind a some more electrical questions...

1.
In a old light/receptacle circuit I relocated some switches and removed a receptacle. The original feed wire I've kept because it would be very hard to replace. It's 40 years old; seems to be 14-2 and in good condition. But I replaced with rest of the circuit with new 14-2 wire. The circuit includes 4 lights and their switches.

The first thing I notice is my compact fluorescent bulbs are burning a lot brighter than before. Does this foretell a problem?

2.
In the attached picture I'm running 6x 12-2 and 1x 10x2 in a basement wall. Does this look OK? I've stacked the wires in the plastic spacers every 16 inches. I've heard that when wires are bundled together they can get "derated", but I've also read it only happens when they are bundled together directly for more than 24" at a time.

Many of these lines are feeding an unfinished inlaw suite consisting of a small kitchen and bathroom.

In case you need to know, the 12-2 lines are for:
Garbage Disposal
Microwave
Small Fridge and Oven Fan
Small Appliance circuit.
Bathroom (fan, light, receptacles including up-flush toilet)
120Volt washer/gas dryer

the 10x2 is for when I eventually add Central Air.

Thanks again...
 

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