# Bathroom light switches on the outside **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2001, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648 "2001-06-21T16:24:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ephedra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@ephedra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ephedra)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/1 "2001-06-21T16:24:17Z")
I’ve seen this more than once so I guess it must have been done on purpose. Light switches on some bathrooms get installed just outside the bathroom near the door. Why?! I can’t figure it out for the life of me. No other rooms in houses tend to have light switches that aren’t located in the same room as the lights they control. Is it so that people can turn the light on and off while you’re in there? Ok, just kidding, but there must be some rationale. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/2 "2001-06-21T18:00:44Z")
It is for safety reasons. If you are inside the bathroom could could have wet hands if you touch the switch and water and electrics don’t mix. The theory is if the switch is outside then there is less chance of it getting wet.One way to get round this is to have a pull switch inside the bathroom on the ceiling and operated by a cord. ---
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/3 "2001-06-21T18:23:50Z")
We bought our house last year, and the light switch for the first floor bathroom was outside. Not only that, but it was behind the door when you opened it to go into the bathroom. We recently hired an electrician to poke a hole through the wall and put the switch on the inside where it belongs. Much better. ---
**Author:** ![ephedra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@ephedra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ephedra)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/4 "2001-06-21T18:49:06Z")
If risk of shock is the reason for having switches outside, then why are most bathroom switches inside? Also, garbage disposal switches seem to be a much higher risk than a bathroom light switch, yet they’re usually right next to the sink. I’ve noticed the outside light switch more often in older houses, I think it must have gone out of style for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/5 "2001-06-21T19:30:50Z")
Methinks that those electricians never had siblings. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/6 "2001-06-21T21:16:40Z")
If when talking about bathrooms you mean a room with a bathtub or shower(as apposed to a toilet) then certainly in the UK it is illegal to have an ordinary light switch in a bath or shower room apart from the pull type switch. It is also illegal to have any socket outlets apart from low wattage ones for electric shavers. Any electrical appliance ,like a heater or towel rail, must be permanatly connected via a fused spur. ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/7 "2001-06-21T21:50:33Z")
I have to admit you are all wrong. The light is placed on the outside so I can turn the light off on my sister while she’s going pee. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/8 "2001-06-21T21:51:03Z")
I’ve been doing some recent house remodeling and I don’t remember seeing anything in the NEC or local building codes that specified having the switch outside the bath. I always thought it was some bizarre New England custom. I can only offer the following suppositions: 1. Having the switch outside allows you to determine whether someone is currently using the john, and to avoid having to knock. Switch is on – someone’s in there. This would be appreciated by reticent New England Puritans. 2. In older houses that had to be retrofitted for lights or just remodelled, it might just be that some structural features – studs or tiles, prevented the switch from being installed on the inside. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/9 "2001-06-21T22:01:38Z")
I installed an internally lit Decora dimmer in the bathroom of my old house. In the US, electrical outlets located near water require GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interruption) protection, where the power is cut off if an electrical device plugged into the outlet somehow lands n the water or is otherwise shorted out. Outlets can’t be located near bathtubs or showers. There’s no prohibition of light switches inside the bathroom, although there are code requriements regarding their location; i.e. not in a shower or reachable from a bathtub, for instance. I saw one house a while ago, where a basement closet was converted to a bathroom of sorts. A shower head dropped from the ceiling, located about 50 cm from a cieling-mounted light bulb, operated by a metal pull chain. My realtor dubbed it the “death chamber.” ---
**Author:** ![ephedra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@ephedra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ephedra)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/10 "2001-06-21T22:39:06Z")
I’ve used more than one bathroom where the light switch was reachable from the shower (especially the 1/2 bath shower-only types). Maybe they were installed by people who were ignoring the regulations. Or maybe some of these regulations are local. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/11 "2001-06-22T00:50:41Z")
My wag is that bathrooms are also called water closets and this probally evolved as people moved plumbing indoors (ok when they got plumbing). So for a closet you put the switch right outside it. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/12 "2001-06-22T01:41:35Z")
I think it’s a safety issue. I have rarely seen bathrooms in the U.S. with switches outside but, IIRC, I have rarely seen bathrooms in Europe with switches inside. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/13 "2001-06-22T03:10:24Z")
All my life, everyplace I’ve lived, the bathroom light switch is _inside_ the bathroom. Excet here in New England. This is the only place where the light switch is outside, and I find it anoying. Was I in danger of elecrocution in all those other states? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/14 "2001-06-22T03:10:44Z")
A bunch of us lived in an old house (the kind where the electrical wiring was insulated with actual rubber, not plastic, and all the outlets were two-prong ungrounded) and the upstairs tub sat fairly close to the vanity mirror. On either side of the vanity mirror were “cup” or “torch” fixtures for holding chain-operated light bulbs. When we converted it to shower, the light bulb on the left of the mirror ended up INSIDE the shower curtain area. We just removed the fixture and untwisted the wires where they had been twisted and taped eons ago and then replaced the fixture. I doubt Underwriter’s Laboratory would have approved. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/15 "2001-06-22T15:57:16Z")
\*\*As a safety note, make sure that the bathroom door can be unlocked from the outside. It should have a little hole in the middle of the knob, this is where you stick some slim object & itll open the door. If not, change the door knob to one that does. A switch on the outside is was probably nice cause you can turn a light on before you go into the bathroom & fall on the wet floor you couldn’t see beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/16 "2001-06-22T16:44:49Z")
The US uses a lower voltage I believe than the UK. Perhaps the US regulatory bodies have decided 110V in the bathroom is not particularly dangerous. In the UK bathrooms have a chapter dedicated to them in the 16th Edition IEEE wiring regulations. They come in a section called ‘Special locations’. These are places such as swimming pools, bathrooms, areas near sinks, saunas etc.These are analysed in detail but with a proviso that all locations should be checked for possible compliance with the qualifying conditions for such areas, as not every possible circumstance can be described in the book. Lightswitches operating on European 220V must either be outside the bathroom or operated by a pullcord. The light fitting itself must be of certain types too. You are allowed to use lower safety voltages differantly and these are defined in the regulations. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/17 "2001-06-23T13:07:21Z")
My house, built 1980 in Maryland USA, has 2 bathrooms. One has the light switch inside (this room has a shower/tub), the other outside (this room has a shower). Both have outlets above the sink and maybe 20 inches from the tap. The outlets are ground fault protected; the light switches aren’t. If it’s an electrocution issue, why are they different? And why isn’t GFI used on the switches? I’ve never seen the switch outside the bathroom elsewhere in the US or Germany (where I’ve seen hotels and commercial buildings but only one house). ---
**Author:** ![DVous\_Means](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@DVous\_Means](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DVous_Means)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/18 "2001-06-23T13:19:32Z")
The answer to the OP has recently been addressed by the Australian government in stringent new electrical regulations. As of July 1 2000, all electrical switches installed into wet areas had to be totally sealed against moisture, including vapour. Where that requirement cannot be met, the switch must be placed exterior to the wet area. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-light-switches-on-the-outside/69648/19 "2001-06-24T00:35:56Z")
i believe handy has the correct explaination; so you can turn the light on before entering the room of water. i live in a house that has a switch on the outside and inside of the loo. i use the one on the outside. i like seeing what i’m walking into, probably a cat. all the cats at my house are black, with the switch on the outside i can see the cat before i step on the cat (or worse).