ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area shower light

Not my job to idiot proof. Safe and code compliant installation is where I draw the line. There are too many what ifs to worry about.

You can never completely idiot-proof anything, because they keep turning out bigger and better idiots!

But I think that there is a difference between idiot-proofing and protecting against a reasonably forseeable circumstance such as the one I cited. Especially when there is negligable cost or labor differential involved here. Just take the feed from the GFCI circuit, which will already be IN the bathroom due to NEC requirements.

NJwirenut,

I agree with you, that putting the shower light on the GFI is relatively cheap and simple, but where does one draw the line?

What about those open-lamp "dressing room" strips above the mirror in bathrooms? You could get electrocuted changing the lamp in those too. Should we put those on the GFI too?

Should we put guards on open lamps in basements and garages, or just ban open-lamp fixtures (luminaires) completely?

Require every single circuit in a home to be GFI protected?

Adopt the Canadian-style panelboards that completely isolate the service conductors from the load conductors?

These are all reasonable suggestions that could easily be adopted by the NEC, all with the intent of increasing safety.

But again, I must ask, where do we draw the line??
Once you do one thing, it's much easier to justify doing another, then another....you get my point.


Peter

Would it be OK to tap the light off the dedicated GFI in the bathroom?

Yes Joe, you can. You are allowed to run all the receptacles and lights on the same dedicated bathroom circuit as long as no other bathrooms (or other areas for that mater) are fed. However, you usually cannot put any type of bathroom heater or whirlpool on that same circuit, as it will lead to overloading.

I was always thinking that the GFI had to be a dedicated circiut but multiple bath gfi's could be on the same feed.
Most inspectors in my area want the shower lt on a gfi breaker.

NJwirenutt;


I love this saying!!!
Want to make Bumper Stickers and Tee Shirts with this saying on it!

May I purchase, or pay royalties on it?

Seriously, I really like that saying - it should be the default quote of anyone in the Industry!

There would be an addendum to it, which is "The Darwin Awards"

Please excuse the off-topic message here, but the above quoted text really made me laugh!

p.s. I had to GFCI protect a Ceiling (flush) Luminaire above a Shower once. Can not remember which Jurisdiction it was in - possibly Huntington Beach.
Was in 1986.
Being the extremely low number of Residential Installs I do, this was not a very big deal, or a debatable issue.

Can see a benefit for this option - even though it is not an NEC required item (may be a local AHJ deal though - once again, <10% of my total installs are in the Residential market).
Benefit would be an "Attempt" to limit Mr. C. Lown Homeowner from an Auto-Electrocution stunt, as mentioned before (changing a Lamp while Switch is closed and Shower is wet).

Scott35