Thread: General NEC Questions...kitchen and baths

Did NEC code ever allow bathroom, garage and exterior circuits to be protected by a 15-amp circuit? My house is 15-years old and this is the case and background behind my qustions.

Does current NEC allow more than one bathroom to be feed from a single 20-amp circuit?

Can garage and exterior outlets share the same 20-amp circuit provided they are GFCI protected?

Are kitchen outlets located at a desk required to be 20-amp?

Kitchen island with an overhang of about 22-inches...does it require an outlet on the end with the overhang? Outlet will be installed on the opposite end with no overhang.

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Your house is 15 yrs. old...built in 1995? puts you on the 1993 electrical code?
220-4(b) required 2 or more 20A small appliance branch circuits...then references 210-52(b)(1) which describes the locations that these small appliance branch circuits are limited to [kitchen, pantry, breakfast room, dining room].

220-4(c) - required a dedicated 20A circuit to supply the laundry receptacle outlets required by 210-52(f) -

Garage and exterior circuits are permitted to be supplied by a 15A circuit.

Bathroom - yes, more than one bathroom can be fed from a single 20A circuit - in 1993 [section 220-4 'Branch Circuits Required'] there was no mandate of a dedicated circuit to bathroom(s) or limit on the number of bathrooms served.

Kitchen island - 1993 - a receptacle was required to serve an island ["A receptacle outlet shall be installed at each island ... counter top with a long dimension of 24" or greater and a short dimension of 12" or greater. Receptacle outlets to serve island counter tops shall be installed above, or within 12" below the counter top."] For 1993 there does not appear to be a prohibition against mounting them below the island top when the overhang exceeds 6" as it does now.

If tho it was built in the 90s does not mean that the 93 NEC was followed. Not all areas adopt the latest NEC as soon as it is published. Some even skip editions. One AHJ here went from the 93 to the 2005 in one jump.

You would really need to know what was the adopted edition when the home was built.

I do believe that Washington DC is currently using the 1999 NEC.

A jurisdiction just outside of DC is currently in the process of going to the 2008, straight from the 2002. Skipped right over the 2005

Originally Posted by dana1028

Your house is 15 yrs. old...built in 1995? puts you on the 1993 electrical code?

Dana,

California has historically been 3 years behind on the adoption of the various codes. As a result, the enforced code has been 3-6 years old. The 1993 NEC would not have been adopted until 1996. The enforced code in 1995 would have been the 1990 NEC.

Originally Posted by Gunnar Alquist

Dana,

California has historically been 3 years behind on the adoption of the various codes. As a result, the enforced code has been 3-6 years old. The 1993 NEC would not have been adopted until 1996. The enforced code in 1995 would have been the 1990 NEC.

I'm familiar with the CA code cycle; hower the OP did not indicate where he was from and most of the country adopts their codes faster than CA.

Originally Posted by Greg Novotny

Did NEC code ever allow bathroom, garage and exterior circuits to be protected by a 15-amp circuit? My house is 15-years old and this is the case and background behind my qustions.

Does current NEC allow more than one bathroom to be feed from a single 20-amp circuit?

Can garage and exterior outlets share the same 20-amp circuit provided they are GFCI protected?

Are kitchen outlets located at a desk required to be 20-amp?

Kitchen island with an overhang of about 22-inches...does it require an outlet on the end with the overhang? Outlet will be installed on the opposite end with no overhang.

You'll get your best answers if you check with your local building office and inquire as to what addition with or without ammendments apply presently to your location. (Note you've shown your location as St. Louis, MO, but if that's general, unknown what parish/county you're in, or if you're over the "line" in Illinois.

More current additions of the NEC specifically allow a single 20 amp circuit to supply the receptacles (GFCI protected) in more than one bathroom, the more recent addtions require that they ONLY serve bathroom receptacles, nothing else, to share the circuit, otherwise each bathroom may have a single circuit 20 amps that provides receptacles, fans, lights in ONE bathroom, and the receptacles GFCI protected (certain location specific and manufacturer's specific instructions for lighting and fans to be gfci protected as well. First receptacles were required to be GFCI protected. 15 amp circuit/supplied and shared circuits were common and allowed. Later dedicated bathroom circuits and 20 amp circuits (15 amp face receptacles still allowed) came in.

TO BE INSTALLED or newly created countertops/island/penninsula spaces would have to meet current requirements (whichever is currently in place in your jurisdiction).

Specifics depend on configuration, overhang, etc. as to your options.

Your best resource as to what "codes" were in place at the time of your home's construction/permit issuance through certificate of occupancy, a historical search of prior permits issued (additions, changes, etc.) and what codes and local ammendments are presently in place: would be your local building office/authority having jurisdiction.

Once you know what various model codes were and are presently in place, and sharing that information with others, when you ask your questions, will get you better quality/qualified responses.