When I turn off the light in my bathroom, the GFCI outlet inside the bathroom will also go dead. This is quite inconvenient because I need to use that outlet to recharge an electric razor, and two electric powered tooth brushes. Now, I must leave them outside the bathroom in order to have them recharged.
The strange thing is that I see the same situation in another bathroom in my house. I have also see the same thing in my brother-in-law apartment -- the power of the whole bathroom is off as soon as I turn off the light.
Why is that? What's the reasoning behind this?
Someone wanted to make sure that curling irons weren't left on to burn the house down?
If you are lucky, you might be able to re-wire it at the switch to solve the problem, although I believe the lights are supposed to be on a seperate circuit from the outlets.
My bathroom is too small for doing any ironing. That doesn't seem to be the reason of wiring the bathroom in that way. Moreover, the house would be burnt down anyway regardless I left the iron inside the bathroom or outside the bathroom.
I likely will re-wire the switch to fix this annoying problem when I need to re-paint the bathroom. Unfortunately, the light and the outlet will have to be in the same circuit because this is not that easy to pull new wires in the old house. Thanks for the confirmation.
No, this should not be a big deal. I am just wondering why someone would design the bathroom wiring in that way. Thanks for confirming that there is really no good reason wiring in that way.
Your bathroom was wired with a switched outlet originally, a REGULAR outlet. At some point, some genius decided to install a GFCI in place of the switched outlet.
A properly wired GFCI will disconnect not only itself, but everything else "downline" from it when the power is removed. Light switch goes off, all power goes out.
Very true. A good observation. This is from Canada! Where we have similar but not identical building and electrical standards. Canada is a huge country with one tenth of the population of the USA and has three coast lines. Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic so a fairly wide range of climate; as does the USA from Alaska to Florida and Hawaii. We also do it in Canadian English (Colour, humour, etc). and some of us also in French; along with greater use of international units such as litres, centimetres and kilometres, degrees Celsius etc. Although many of us are bi-lingual: Or tri-lingual, if one considers 'American' a separate tongue! :-) Generally, however our building methods are similar and both countries (Also Mexico and others, who do it in Spanish or Portuguese) use similar 115/230 volt electrical systems. So there is a lot of common ground and commonality of methods if not standards. But countries of the EU (European Community) and much of the Middle East often do things differently. Just look at the back of many computers; there are switches for both North American 115 volts (60 hertz) and 230 volts (50 hertz)! Also Australia and many Asian countries differ. For example many still drive on the left. (This was originally European custom; to have your right (sword or dagger weapon) hand freer to defend yourself as you passed a stranger going the opposite direction on narrow path or roadway. Same as we shake with the right hand; except those of us who have 'funny' hand shakes. :-) Haven't been to China yet but will be interesting to see how they do things! Apart from make a lot of the stuff we buy! Yes we have US owned Wal Marts here! USA and Canada are major trading partners. So many of the products in Canada are similar or identical; or are frequently those manufactured in the USA. Thus as a follower of this group much of the discussion is pertinent and useful. So thanks once again for those who in the past have replied and helped with specific items and for those who continue to respond; often very useful. Frequently thought provoking.
What? You can't be too careful... think of the children or the people who might move in after.
No, the best sequence to follow is a
Pre-inspection, Plans drawn by a professional engineer, Permit, Actual work done by a professional supervisor and an assistant, and Post-installation inspection
Jay. It is possible that the rewire will be up at the (ceiling?) light fixture. Not at the switch itself.
Check and see if it has been wired along these lines.
1) Live and neutral from the supply to the light fixture ceiling or wall box.
2) All neutrals joined together?
3) The live wire extended to the switch by one wire?
4) When switch is 'on' that live returns via the other wire from the switch.
5) That 'switched live' is connected not only to the light but also to the bathroom outlet!
6) If the above 1 to 5 is correct? It may be possible to reconnect the live wire that goes to the outlet directly to the supply live wire? If you run into something more complicated or different it might be best to get someone who is electrically competent to help you sort out how it's previously been wired. As other posters have said it is unusual to have lights and outlets hooked up to a lighting circuit. Although it might have n been done as safety measure at some point in time? OR: because that was the only way it could be made to work? For example someone wanting an outlet in an old style bathroom merely tapped one off an adjacent light fixture! Hmm! Not always the best policy. Best check it out. I seem to remember out first house bathroom did not have any outlets at all. Our second house bathroom had only a shaver outlet which contained a small 7 watt transformer; something now banned by many jurisdictions AFIK. Congratulations on using a GFCI for safety.
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