Outlets in a closet?

[Christopher Nelson]

My master bathroom and walk-in closet share a wall, the wall behind the vanity. I don't know what the original owner was thinking but above the 36", single-bowl vanity there are 3(!) double outlets. One is in a 2-gang box with the switch for the light above the sink. The other two are at the other end of the vanity in their own 2-gang box. It's overkill and it's ugly.

I know I can't take out the extra outlets and bury the box but I'm contemplating cutting into the closet wall and just flipping the box around so that the outlets (or a blank plate) face into the closet then patching the plaster in the bathroom. Is there any code or safety issue with this plan? (I know code varies slightly from place to place. I'm looking for a general answer.) TIA.

Chris

[RBM]

Assuming the outlets are daisy chained together, you may be able to completely kill the offending outlets from an upstream location. If necessary, the NEC has no restriction on installing a blanked junction box in a closet

[Oren]

Do it.

I moved a master closet door and light switch to an opposite wall. The former door space became a door size medicine/storage space recessed in the wall.

Now we enter the walk-in master closet from the bedroom, instead the master bath.

Speak to electricians and what material/code compliance will be needed.

[Phisherman]

I see nothing wrong with this plan. If you don't think you'll ever need an outlet in the walkin closet, cover the box with a plain faceplate.

[aemeijers]

Probably daisy-chained together, and if you can figure which one is the upstream end (hopefully the one with the switch), you can break the circuit there and bury away, abandoning the wire in the wall. (Assuming no other outlets are downstream that you do want to keep, of course.)

Where is the GFCI for the bathroom? At the breaker, or at one of the outlets in question? If you don't have one, you need one.

But having said all that- A lot of work for very little benefit, and come sale time, lots of outlets are a plus. Electric toothbrush, razor, curling iron, etc. I'd just slap one of those flat nightlights over the extra one and not worry about it. Maybe carefully spraypaint the covers, or even the fixtures, to make them blend in better.

If you do flip them into the closet, I'd leave the outlets in the box, unless local code forbids it. Bedroom outlets always seem to be full or buried, and it is nice to have a spare to plug in vacuum cleaners or tools or whatever.

-- aem sends...

[Wayne Whitney]

One requirement to keep in mind is that the circuit serving the bathroom receptacles can't serve any loads outside the bathroom. So if you flip one box around to face the closet, you'll have to remove the receptacle and just blank it off.

Cheers, Wayne

[metspitzer]

It is legal to supply other outlets from the bathroom. It is common really. Maybe you are thinking about the 2 small appliance circuits for the kitchen.

[hallerb]

I wouldnt do it.....

you need the light switch

we have 8 outlets in bath, 4 duplex receptables and i have seen them all in use

1 for wifes hair dryer

1 for wifes curling iron

1 for a nite light

1 for the vacuumn used in hall

1 for the electric toothbrush

1 to charge the hair shears foir my buzz cut

1 for wifes electric hair rollers

this all on a 36 inch sink although some stuff hangs on hooks the hairdryer etc.'

at home resale time the extra outlets will be a sales plus item

plug in a nite light to cover the extra outlets if they really bother you that much

[HeyBub]

Huh? What could possibly be the rationale for that?

[cshenk]

"Christopher Nelson" wrote

New faceplates can help a good bit there.

I would do this. See, with 4 left in the bathroom, thats 4 more than I have (grin, no outlets in any of my bathrooms, older house built before folks thought they'd need'em). 4 works well and is more than most people have. The only time I see 3, one of them is located down lower on another wall and used to run a spare (bathroom safe) heater in cold climate places.

Now, adding an outlet to the walk in closet is a benefit if it doesnt have one. It provides a spot to run a hand held clothes steamer, hang an electric rechargable small vacumn cleaner, all sorts of things.

Were I buying your house, I would be more attracted by the ability to plug in 4 things in the bathroom and 2 in the closet, than 6 in the bathroom and none in the closet. I may be weird though! Depending on the shape and size of the walkin, I'd be delighted to find a wall mount flip down small touch up ironing board and an outlet right in there with a wall mount iron holder (safety design, they make them for this).

[RBM]

It was legal before NEC changed the requirement to dedicated 20 amp circuits, but not since that time

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, And GFCI.

[RBM]

When the code for bathroom wiring changed from requiring a GFCI protected outlet on a general lighting circuit, to a dedicated 20 amp circuit, they didn't want anything reducing the capacity of the circuit, probably so 1800 watt hair dryers could work

[RBM]

Yep

[metspitzer]

Oh yeah. I remember that now. One 20A circuit can feed as many bathrooms as you have, but nothing else.

[RBM]

It's in 210.11(C)(3) Before this current code was enacted, bathroom outlets were just installed on general lighting circuits, which is the scenario you are referring to.

[HerHusband]

Chris,

Moving the box seems like a lot of work for a minor annoyance. Especially considering all the hair driers, curling irons, hair curlers, clippers, and other items that need power in a bathroom.

If it's just the two outlets in one box bugging you, you could remove one of the outlets and use a 2-gang cover that is blank on one side. Any home center should carry these.

If you're going to the trouble to cut out the old box, you could easily replace it with a single gang box. However, if there's a lot of wires coming into the box, you may be better off with a two gang box with a single gang mudring on the front. This will retain the capacity of a larger box with the opening of a single gang box.

Anthony

[JIMMIE]

An outlet in a closet may prove useful. We have one in ours and keep the vacuum plugged into it all the time. I also find it to be a very convienent place to keep my cell phone and palmtop charged.

Jimmie