Bathroom Circuit For Exhaust Fan With Light

[JJT]

My bathroom with shower does not have an exhaust fan in it. I would like to install one that has a light combined with the fan. The circuit is 15 amp(14/2). Also on the circuit is a GFCI protected receptacle with two plug-ins and a 4 bulb light fixture over the mirror. Is this do-able or would a 20 amp circuit be required?

[Aaron]

No problem. Go for it. I'm assuming it's a dedicated bath circuit. 15A is perfectly fine.

I'd wire everything so that if your GFCI receptacle trips, your lights and bath fan will continue to get power. In other words, don't wire anything to the LOAD side of the receptacle; just the LINE side.

[JJT]

No problem. Go for it. I'm assuming it's a dedicated bath circuit. 15A is perfectly fine.

I'd wire everything so that if your GFCI receptacle trips, your lights and bath fan will continue to get power. In other words, don't wire anything to the LOAD side of the receptacle; just the LINE side.

Thanks. It's actually not a dedicated circuit. From the bathroom GFCI there is a load connection to a bedroom light and a couple of receptacles.

[Shannon]

If the lights or fan/light combo are with in 1M (3') of the tub/shower they should be GFCI protected .

[Aaron]

Yes! Forgot about that. Thanks Shannon.

[JJT]

What are you guys smoking? In both my posts I mention that the circuit is GFCI protected...

[Aaron]

Is the circuit GFCI protected by a GFCI breaker in your panel, or do you have a GFCI receptacle? Because if you have one you don't need the other.

So if you have anything close to a source of water (such as ceiling light near a shower head), it needs GFCI protection. That protection could come from the LOAD side of a GFCI receptacle or just from the circuit itself if it's already protected from the panel's GFCI breaker.

The only reason I mentioned not having lights or whatever on the GFCI recept's load side is that if it trips you could be in a pitch dark bathroom. Just inconvenient.

[JJT]

Thanks! It's protected by a GFCI receptacle in the bathroom. In my new panel box installation, I had the electrician install GFCI breakers in the box for my kitchen receptacles on either side of the sink as they are split receptacles with a dedicated 120V wire connected to each outlet of both receptacles, so was not possible to install GFCI receptacles for those, other then capping off one live wire in each receptacle box but didn't want to do that,...cost me an extra $350 for the two breakers....

I guess I'll just have to live with some darkness if the bathroom GFCI trips, but it's not something that happens often. Actually, I don't think it's ever tripped other than when I test it.

Thanks again for your help and advice Aaron and Shannon!

[Shannon]

What are you guys smoking? In both my posts I mention that the circuit is GFCI protected...

I was just pointing this out because of Aarons previous post about connecting the light and fan to the line side of the GFCI receptacle .

[JJT]

Agreed. There's no limit to how many times safety can be expressed!