I have an outlet in my bathroom that’s above and to the left of my sink and I’m wondering if it would be safe enough to use some of those third reality plugs in it.
They would not be directly exposed to water from the sink or anything like that, but during showers and stuff like that it can get quite humid in that room. And so I’m wondering if that would cause any kind of problem.
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Your bathroom receptacles are protected by a GFCI safety mechanism. You can confirm by noticing if the receptacle has two small buttons usually stamped with “Test” and “Reset”.
If the smart plug had a malfunction due to humidity (unlikely), the GFCI receptacle it’s plugged into would instantly cut power.
You can toss a toaster in your bathtub as long as it’s plugged into a GFCI and 99.99999% chance you would be totally fine. Don’t try this at home.
That sounds like a very country-specific fact and I am not sure poster talked about a specific country.
It’s fairly universal throughout developed countries. Might be called something different than GFCI though.
Am electrician, this is correct.
I think they are asking about the hardware in the device itself versus the electrical.
It would be incredibly subjective to the build quality of the device, and what is happening in that bathroom.
If it steams up a lot and gets condensation on all the surfaces, you may run into trouble from corrosion over time.
The plug won’t always have two buttons if it’s GFCI protected, as one GFCI outlet can protect multiple outlets.
True. Also in newer homes the GFCI might be at the circuit breaker.
Either way, as long as it’s GFCI you shouldn’t have any concerns.
As stated the outlet should be protected by GFCI so the moisture causing a short circuit or a personal electrical hazard shouldn’t be an issue.
However from a humidity standpoint with the electronic components, most company’s will say something to the effect of no more that a certain humidity operating environment. Using the plug in the bathroom could theoretically shorten the life of the plug or cause undesirable operation.
If you own your home you may be able to get one of the in the wiring box controllers like the Sonoff ZBMINIR2’s and use that to switch the outlet. This will absolutely depend on a couple factors and I am not an electrician. I also haven’t worked with the GFCI outlets much but regular outlets can have the plugs separated with one of them being always on and the other being switched. I have split an outlet and will probably do something similar in some others and plan to have one in my bathroom for charging my toothbrush and shaver. With the cover in place there should be little to no change in humidity in the box.
I am using AFCI/GFCI breakers on all bedroom and wet location circuits so it’s not an issue for me. That is also an option since you would still keep the required protection and be able to use an old school outlet. I’ve seen and replaced the GFCI outlets that begin to catch fire when they are heavily loaded, I also wonder if they die seemingly for no reason due to bathroom humidity getting inside through the prong openings. Either way using the breakers let’s me use the heavy duty outlets in the bathroom since ladies and their hair tools have no issues with the outlets being loose all the time and they are rated for a full 20 amps for the flame throwing hair dryer.
