bathroom circuit(s) for 2 girls

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kmuddzy

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Hi. I am laying out the wiring circuit for a 2 vanity bathroom serving 2 girls. The girls are 6 & 4 years old so I assume in the near future they will be blow drying their hair at the same time. I wanted to do 2 circuits for the bathroom, keeping each vanity's GFCI receptacle on a separate circuit. I read that code requires at least one 20amp GFCI Receptacle circuit per bathroom and I would prefer to not do 3 circuits.

I was thinking about one 15amp GFCI circuit to vanity A's receptacle and the adjacent wall receptacle.

The second circuit would be 20amp and supply vanity B's GFCI receptacle, the adjacent wall recpetacle, 2 recessed lights and the ceiling exhaust/fan (1.1amps)

1) Does anyone see a problem with this regarding current code (NJ if anyone is familiar) since I have the lights & fan on the 20amp circuit?

2) is this question a waste of time and I should just go with two 20amp receptacle circuits and supply the lighting/fan from another room's 15amp circuit(lol)?
Thanks! Keith
 
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Jadnashua

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Throw a couple of hair driers, maybe some curlers, and who knows what, and maybe even two 20A circuits may not be enough! The light/fan doesn't take much unless you get one with heat lamps or a heater in it.
 

kmuddzy

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Throw a couple of hair driers, maybe some curlers, and who knows what, and maybe even two 20A circuits may not be enough! The light/fan doesn't take much unless you get one with heat lamps or a heater in it.

Yeah - after I wrote the first part I realized it is kinda a dumb question. Sometimes I get tunnel vision when I lay things out and I try to hold onto something that isn't that big of a difference. I will go with a 20amp circuit to each vanity and run the lights/fan off another circuit. I'm not putting in 30amp circuits so if they trip those circuits then they will have to stage their appliance use!
 
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You are doing this work yourself? If so, I recommend that you charge yourself less for the labor and then the increased cost of materials will not be a problem.

Seriously. Is it a very great distance to the panel? Are you running NM? Why not just run 12/3 for the two GFI receptacles?

Although I am astonished by how much more 12/3 is compared to 12/2. We are talking a 33% increase in copper and a likewise small increase in thermoplastic.

Yet I generally find the 12/3 is about 80% more than the 12/2.

What will you do? It will save you a good bit of time as you run it, so go for it.

And certainly run the lighting off one of the circuits. Just don't put the lights down stream of the GFI's or you kids will be in the dark after they trip the blasted thing.
 
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Oh, and do yourself a favor: have the 12/3 line come to the light switch first, and make sure it is a VERY deep box. These are nice:

http://www.garvinindustries.com/Ele...xes/3-1-2-Deep-with-Conduit-Knockouts/52181-S

But a 2 1/8th deep box with an extension ring and a generous mud ring is nearly the same capacity.

You need to calculate your box fill, of course, but with 12ga sometimes I like to make a point of having a bit of surplus. That stuff is like coat hanger wire.

You can make up all the junctions that have nothing to do with getting the power to the switches and the lights/fan, and shove that stuff well back into the box, then finish up the switches and they will not be TOO painful to push in.

Use deep boxes for the GFIs as well. They are bulky. Use 4x4x 2 1/8th with a mud ring, and you should have no problems getting it all stuffed together.
 
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