8 ms·

You certainly can put a GFCI outlet adjacent a toilet, sink or in any other wet space. Please don't spread electrical code myths.

sublinear 1y ago
And yet most apartments don't have an outlet near the toilet.
- mulmen 1y ago
  I have lived in close to a dozen places built over the entire second half of the 20th century and into the 2010s and never had a bathroom with more than 6 feet between the toilet and an outlet.
  - seanmcdirmid 1y ago
    My master bathroom in a 2016 build has a separate toilet room, and only one outlet that is definitely more than six feet away, it would also require drilling a hole somewhere.
    - mulmen 1y ago
      Weird. That’s certainly not common in apartments.
      - seanmcdirmid 1y ago
        I don’t think separate toilet rooms are very common in the states at all.
        mixmastamyk 1y ago
        Separate sink, bathroom+toilet rooms here.
    - zrobotics 1y ago
      Yeah, NEC only requires 1 outlet within 3 feet of each sink in a bathroom, and 2 sinks 6' apart could share 1 outlet. Bathrooms are the really the only place where the NFPA hasn't extended the required number of outlets, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that changed in an upcoming revision. At the very least I wouldn't be shocked to see a NEC requirement for an outlet within 3' of each toilet in the next decade.
  - kelnos 1y ago
    In my downstairs bathroom, I do indeed have a power outlet within 6 feet of the toilet, but until I added a second, closer outlet, plugging in my bidet required running an extension cord along the back of the counter, behind the sink, to reach the original outlet. Not the most attractive setup, and probably not the safest either. In my old apartment, the master bedroom had the toilet in a separate room from the sink, with no power outlet at all.
    - mulmen 1y ago
      Yeah my current setup requires an extension cord and it’s definitely a hassle. It doesn’t look great and it is another thing to clean.
mixmastamyk 1y ago
That’s exactly what I’m talking about, so thanks for confirming the ‘myth’. If you think the average person knows that acronym you’re mistaken. It’s an additional circuit breaker built into the outlet, as I said. Should have said ‘normal’ power outlets not allowed to avoid this subthread however.
- ghaff 1y ago
  Current code in many/most places in the US requires GFCI plugs in a lot of places that may be exposed to water. I would think an educated homeowner (though possibly not apartment dweller) would be familiar with whether they knew what the acronym stood for or not.
- zrobotics 1y ago
  Umm, GFCI isn't an arcane thing, they've been around and required in bathrooms since the 70s [0]. People may not know the acronym, but they 100% are familiar with the outlets with the two little buttons that you sometimes have to reset. Local jurisdictions may have delayed adoption, so your city might not have required them right away but it was national code in 1975 for bathrooms. They also don't have a circuit breaker built in, they perform a completely different function from a circuit breaker. And have been required in at least some portion of a property since the early 70s under the NEC, expanding over time to include anywhere where exposure to water is a possibility. Even if we look at a super old version of the NEC, in 1965 I don't see anything that would prohibit installing an outlet near a toilet. I'm referencing a PDF of the 1965 version, but I don't have a shareable link. I'm posting this not to shame you, but to point out that you have some misunderstandings of what is electrical code and so other members don't see your first confident statement and take it as fact. Plus, you can't tell if an outlet is GFCIs protected or not just by looking at it, even the very early ones could protect downstream outlets and at since the late 00's GFCIs combination breakers have been common. An outlet may look like a normal outlet and be GFCIs protected, I would wager that most of the kitchens you have been in have had GFCIs outlets. [0] https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2018/7/when-were-gfci-receptacle-outlets-first-required.html https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2018/7/when-w...
  - 1y ago
chgs 1y ago
In your location.

sublinear 1y ago

And yet most apartments don't have an outlet near the toilet.

mulmen 1y ago
I have lived in close to a dozen places built over the entire second half of the 20th century and into the 2010s and never had a bathroom with more than 6 feet between the toilet and an outlet.
- seanmcdirmid 1y ago
  My master bathroom in a 2016 build has a separate toilet room, and only one outlet that is definitely more than six feet away, it would also require drilling a hole somewhere.
  - mulmen 1y ago
    Weird. That’s certainly not common in apartments.
    - seanmcdirmid 1y ago
      I don’t think separate toilet rooms are very common in the states at all.
      - mixmastamyk 1y ago
        Separate sink, bathroom+toilet rooms here.
  - zrobotics 1y ago
    Yeah, NEC only requires 1 outlet within 3 feet of each sink in a bathroom, and 2 sinks 6' apart could share 1 outlet. Bathrooms are the really the only place where the NFPA hasn't extended the required number of outlets, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that changed in an upcoming revision. At the very least I wouldn't be shocked to see a NEC requirement for an outlet within 3' of each toilet in the next decade.
- kelnos 1y ago
  In my downstairs bathroom, I do indeed have a power outlet within 6 feet of the toilet, but until I added a second, closer outlet, plugging in my bidet required running an extension cord along the back of the counter, behind the sink, to reach the original outlet. Not the most attractive setup, and probably not the safest either. In my old apartment, the master bedroom had the toilet in a separate room from the sink, with no power outlet at all.
  - mulmen 1y ago
    Yeah my current setup requires an extension cord and it’s definitely a hassle. It doesn’t look great and it is another thing to clean.

mixmastamyk 1y ago

That’s exactly what I’m talking about, so thanks for confirming the ‘myth’. If you think the average person knows that acronym you’re mistaken. It’s an additional circuit breaker built into the outlet, as I said. Should have said ‘normal’ power outlets not allowed to avoid this subthread however.

ghaff 1y ago
Current code in many/most places in the US requires GFCI plugs in a lot of places that may be exposed to water. I would think an educated homeowner (though possibly not apartment dweller) would be familiar with whether they knew what the acronym stood for or not.
zrobotics 1y ago
Umm, GFCI isn't an arcane thing, they've been around and required in bathrooms since the 70s [0]. People may not know the acronym, but they 100% are familiar with the outlets with the two little buttons that you sometimes have to reset. Local jurisdictions may have delayed adoption, so your city might not have required them right away but it was national code in 1975 for bathrooms. They also don't have a circuit breaker built in, they perform a completely different function from a circuit breaker. And have been required in at least some portion of a property since the early 70s under the NEC, expanding over time to include anywhere where exposure to water is a possibility. Even if we look at a super old version of the NEC, in 1965 I don't see anything that would prohibit installing an outlet near a toilet. I'm referencing a PDF of the 1965 version, but I don't have a shareable link. I'm posting this not to shame you, but to point out that you have some misunderstandings of what is electrical code and so other members don't see your first confident statement and take it as fact. Plus, you can't tell if an outlet is GFCIs protected or not just by looking at it, even the very early ones could protect downstream outlets and at since the late 00's GFCIs combination breakers have been common. An outlet may look like a normal outlet and be GFCIs protected, I would wager that most of the kitchens you have been in have had GFCIs outlets. [0] https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2018/7/when-were-gfci-receptacle-outlets-first-required.html https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2018/7/when-w...
- 1y ago

chgs 1y ago

In your location.