Sockets in the bathroom: how to install, location and installation, installation

Not so long ago, only a few decades ago, the electrical equipment of the bathrooms was very poor. Most often it was limited to a single incandescent lamp under the ceiling. A little later, there were the first washing machines, which were most often connected to outlets located outside the bathroom. In the 21st century our bathrooms began to be filled with large quantities of electrical appliances, which needed power sources located directly in the bathroom. The appearance of baths with hydromassage, shower cabins, boilers and other similar equipment led to the need for sockets in the bathroom.

It used to be that a socket located close to water sources would necessarily lead to a short circuit, so they tried not to use electrical appliances in the bathroom. Now it has become inevitable and it is already difficult for us to imagine a bathroom without a hairdryer, fan, electric razor and other useful appliances.

There are several regulatory documents in which you can find requirements regarding the arrangement of wiring in various types of premises. The most authoritative sources are the "Rules for the Installation of Electrical Installations"( abbreviated as PUE) and GOST R-50571.11.

The most important recommendations to follow are:

• If you live in an old house that does not have a grounding for the outlets, you should take care of it yourself. Devices with low power can be powered from safety transformers.
• As the humidity in the air is always increased in the bathroom, the electrical wiring should be hidden. True, this statement has only a recommendation character. The main thing is to ensure good insulation.
• To install the sockets, carefully select the place: it is forbidden to do this on walls prone to condensation and at a distance of 0.6 meters from the bath.
• In the bathroom you need to choose electrical outlets that have a certain class of protection against moisture and dust. It is indicated by the abbreviation IP and two digits. These sockets are equipped with lids and rubberized elements. The minimum permissible degree of protection in the bathroom is IP 44.
• If you plan to connect many powerful electrical appliances, be sure to install a protective shutdown device on the wiring, which is able to protect your family members and household appliances from electric shock.
• The requirements for the installation of powerful electrical appliances are usually prescribed in the operating instructions. Be sure to follow them! Use three-pin sockets with a three-wire cable and a circuit breaker.
• If you do not have sufficient knowledge in the field of electrical engineering, entrust all work on the wiring to a professional electrician.

A close contact of electricity with water a priori can not be safe, so the norms do not recommend installing sockets in a bathroom area of ​​less than eight square meters. However, in our apartments, where even kitchens often barely hold out to six "squares", it is almost impossible to fulfill this requirement.

The safety of using electrical outlets in bathrooms is directly dependent on the equipment used. Let's talk about it in more detail:

1. Grounding. If you live in a new building, then the builders probably took care of it for you. Owners of the same "Khrushchev" and "steel" were less fortunate. But do not get upset: you can easily ground the wiring in the bathroom yourself. The ground loop is usually located in the shield, next to the meter. To it, you need to connect a single-core cable and bring it to the individual flap that is in the apartment, or to a junction box with wires in the bathroom.
2. Circuit breaker, or as it is called in the people - "automatic", is necessary only if the bathroom has a washing machine or boiler. For these purposes, a 16-amp machine is suitable. If powerful domestic appliances in the bathroom are not provided, you can do without it.
3. The residual current device is also recommended to be installed only on highly loaded wiring. However, you can install it and just so that you feel completely safe. If water gets into the outlet, or any object that can lead to a voltage drop, the device will turn off the power supply, and no one and nothing will suffer.
4. In a bathroom it is impossible to connect wires by means of twists, terminal blocks and other similar products. All connections and connections must be made outside the bathroom, even if you are installing hidden wiring.

Generally, there is not much room in the bathroom for installing an electrical outlet. Complexities are caused by the fact that not every free piece of space is suitable for this. If you visually divide the room into zones, you can determine which place is most suitable for mounting the outlet.

There are four such zones:

• Zone 0 is a sanitary equipment: a bath, a sink, a toilet, a bidet, a shower. In other words, everything that is connected with water. In this zone, installation of outlets and other equipment, the voltage of which exceeds 12 V, except those necessary for the operation of sanitary devices, is prohibited.
• Zone 1 are the sections located above and below the zone 0. The sockets can not be mounted here, but it is possible to install water heating equipment with grounded housing and protection class IP N5.
• Zone 2 - these are the same 0,6 m, which must separate the water sources from the places of electrical equipment connection. In this area you can install sockets with a class of protection against moisture and at least IP N4.
• Zone 3 is the area that begins where the previous zone ends. The width of this zone is 2.4 m. It is now possible to install electrical outlets with the protection class IP N1.

After determining the place where the outlet will be installed, you can go for a purchase. Choose an electrical outlet for the bathroom is not so difficult, because of the variety presented in the shops, we are suitable only a few.

In this article, we have already mentioned more than once that a socket installed in a room with high humidity must necessarily be protected from water droplets.

Define the degree of protection will help marking the type of IP NN, where the first figure shows the class of protection against dust, and the second - from moisture.

In the case of IP-class N0 sockets, there is no protection in principle, and IP-class N8 outlets can withstand a long immersion in water to a depth of more than 1 m.

We need a golden mean - IP N4 or IP N5.

Waterproof sockets should be equipped with a lid and rubber waterproofing. Also, there must be a ground connection, that is, a third contact.

Among other things, the sockets differ in the number of connected electrical appliances. The most popular options are single or double sockets. We advise you to buy double sockets, as they help to save space and simultaneously use two electrical appliances.

In addition, pay attention to the power that the electrical outlet is designed for. To connect, for example, a washing machine, you need a power of at least 16 amperes, and for smaller appliances there will be enough 8 amperes.

First consider the option when the sockets are installed in the bathroom at the first stage of the repair, respectively, all the finishing materials are dismantled and we are dealing with the rough surface of the walls.

Operation procedure:

• Installation of the outlet starts with dirty work. First, we mark on the wall the place where the socket will be installed. Then, with the help of a perforator with a special nozzle for working on concrete, we punched a hole for the jar on this place. Next, shtrobim wall from the hole to the ceiling. Under the ceiling we punch through the hole through which we will then pull the wires.
• A simpler option is to immediately extend the wall right through, in the place where the socket will be located. But in this case, the completed installation work will have to be thoroughly disguised.
• We put the jar on the place and fix it with a solution of alabaster. We attach to it a three-wire cable and take it out of the bathroom by the stem, fixing it with alabaster.
• Install the outlet on the sub-socket and connect the cable to the main electrical wiring - shield or junction box, depending on the capacity of the equipment used.

It also happens that the repair in the bathroom has been completed for a long time: electricity is installed, the sockets are installed, but you suddenly needed to connect one more device that requires a separate outlet. What to do, because the use of extension cords and adapters in the bathroom is strictly not recommended? In this case, you can install an additional outlet, without knocking down completely the finishing coating from the walls. True, the socket will be located very low, almost at the level of the floor.

For this it is necessary: ​​

• disconnect the switchboard;
• from the switchboard we feed a new wire and extend it under the baseboard;
• remove the finishing coating from the place where the socket will be installed and to the floor;
• in the removed wall covering( for example, in a tile) we drill a hole for podrozetnika;
• mount the sub-directory;
• drill a channel in the wall to the floor and make a hole under the baseboard;
• we extend the cable through it to the sub-socket;
• return the finishing coat to the place and collect the outlet.