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Anonymous Poster

Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/10/2009 12:11 PM

Is there a code for heating in the toilet. I wonder what others told me because im planning not to put a heater during winter in my toilet for the reason that my pipe is insulated. But others told me that its against the plumbing code or not following the code. Anybody can give advice?

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#1

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/10/2009 1:09 PM

I don't know the code for your location. Heating the tank helps eliminate condensation, which can be a real problem in the winter. Some people use a thin layer of insulation, purpose made for in the tank, for just this problem.

Of more concern is the garbeled cursing you hear when the wife hits the cold seat. An infra-red source aimed at the toilet works good there. Don't worry about the plumbing inspector, unless he's sleeping with your wife.

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#16
In reply to #1

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 9:07 AM

Funny I have condensation problems in the Summer. The winter is no problem because the house is so dry.

As for heating the toilet, I have never heard of doing this but it sure makes sense.

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#2

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/10/2009 7:18 PM

Code or no code if you don't heat and the problem ensues what recourse are planning if the inspector visits during the repair?

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#3
In reply to #2

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/10/2009 8:14 PM

Tell him to see my wife.

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#4

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/10/2009 10:55 PM

You could get one off those Japanese heated toilet seats

http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2006/02/heated_toilet_s.html

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#5

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/10/2009 11:07 PM

This idea may not help with the heating problem..........but, it may reduce the time spent in there:-

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#6
In reply to #5

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/10/2009 11:36 PM

Mobi-stop it now! It's not fair! I was in an automobile accident a month ago and broke my sternum! I was doing fine until I saw your post! Ouch! Damn it!

Hope you don't mind-I saved the photgraph to the hard drive. Thanks for the laughter-however painful! I am sure to enjoy it more in a few weeks. I think this is the funniest thing I have seen in long time.

Best Regards,

Ing. Robert Forbus

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#7
In reply to #6

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/10/2009 11:59 PM

Here Chief................don't complain............they say that laughter is the best medicine

Sorry about your prang.........I really hope that you are on a swift road to recovery.

Cheers

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#18
In reply to #6

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 12:18 PM

Years ago I ran over myself with my pickup - right across the center chest

didn't break anything (whadda they know) but separated almost every rib

DAMN that hurts for weeks!

Aside - I could read the maker of the brand of shirt snaps for almost a year - right on the sternum, but the tread marks wore off after the first month

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#19
In reply to #18

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 12:31 PM

"Years ago I ran over myself with my pickup" RAOTFLMAO

Now that is one of the funniest things I have heard in a long time. I am trying to visualize it..... and still can't "Were you Hood Surfing" ? LOL

Sorry in advance. te he he.

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#21
In reply to #19

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 1:12 PM

Ehhhhem

Good Judgement comes from experience... and a lot of that comes from Bad Judgement!

I'll give you the ingredients and you can do the baking:

Faulty starter switch, exposed solenoid, heavy truck, and a volunteer on the brakes more worried about his sinking pickup than the instructions I was giving him. He DID manage to get on the brakes AFTER I planted it on my chest.

Needless to say - the replacement switch looked a lot cheaper after the x-ray bill came in.

And while I may not be bright (obviously), MY pickup wasn't the one sinking

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#22
In reply to #21

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 1:41 PM

Ha Ha, Of course there was a good explanation. Glad you survived! Believe me I also have been in many similar types of situations that could have ended poorly. That's why I like my signature quote so much!

Josh.

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#24
In reply to #22

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 2:09 PM

I tried hard to keep that tagline in mind while I raised sons - gotta say I don't think they were as hair-brained as I - that I know....

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#9
In reply to #5

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 3:40 AM
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#10
In reply to #9

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 4:22 AM

Yep..............something like that!!!!!!!

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#8

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 12:51 AM

Heat in the toilet? Just exactly how far above the Arctic circle do you live???

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#11

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 8:03 AM

Run a HOT water supply line from sink to toilet tank .

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#12

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 8:29 AM

Styrofoam toilet seat. Should keep the cheeks from freezing to the seat.

an electric toilet seat shouldn't fall into any building codes, since it's just a plug in device like an electric heater or a stereo. (Unless it's actually hard wired, in which case it will fall into the electrical code.)

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#13

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 8:30 AM

Where do you live that you need this?

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#14

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 8:35 AM

Don't know about code, but don't heat it so much you melt the wax seal under the drain.

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#15

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 8:43 AM

You think your wife screams and curses now with a cold toilet seat, wait until she puts her foot into dirty water leaking out of the gasket.

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#17

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 12:17 PM

As usual, there have been some interesting and entertaining answers, but I think we have missed the original intent to the question. I, too, would like to know about preventing a toilet from freezing. I am planning to build a workshop which will not be heated all the time and I would like to put a toilet in the shop. Is there a heating method within code to prevent freezing (other than keeping the heat on low or draining the water)?

Bill

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#20

Re: heat in the toilet...

05/11/2009 12:36 PM

There are, or was until reciently, an electric toilets seat that plugs into a regular outlet, (well regular if you're in Canada or the states 120V) It doesn't violate any codes that i am aware of, and it simply heats the seat using heat wire built inside the seat.

If your worried about the actual pipes freezing there are many heat trace products on the market that do the same thing. Plug in and wrap around the pipes.

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#23

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/11/2009 2:00 PM

Check this out. http://www.brondell.com/index.php You will never have a cold toilet again. Quite reasonable and easy to install.

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#25
In reply to #23

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/11/2009 2:52 PM

I am not sure, seems to go against common logic.....

Electricity + Water + Ass = FAIL

LOL

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#28
In reply to #23

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/11/2009 11:43 PM

For those whom are comfortable on the pot

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#26

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/11/2009 4:33 PM

Simple minds = simple solutions. A friend of mine plumbed in a toilet and mistakenly hooked the HOT WATER pipe to the supply. After two flushes, the bowl is nice and steamy; very nice on a cold day! I'm sure some luxury company has a heated seat but anyone familiar with OHM's law could make himself one. Just don't use 120 or 240 for the element!

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#27
In reply to #26

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/11/2009 8:40 PM

Hot crap?

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#29

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/11/2009 11:47 PM

It's a common practice in northern climes during winter, eliminates plant maintenance and worth every cent of hot water costs.

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#30

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/12/2009 2:33 PM

I think we're missing the point of Mr. Guest's question. I will try to interpret:

Toilet (in this sense) = bathroom

Toilet (as taken in the forum) = commode, water closet, crapper, porcelain throne, etc.

As I interpret the question, I think the code is so the pipes don't freeze. In the case of our guest there would be no reason to install heating in the toilet (bathroom) if the pipes are insulated sufficiently to prevent freeze damage. If code enforcement is extremely rigorous where you are building this, you might just speak to the code enforcement people and find out if your installation is ok...or just build it...sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission...

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#31
In reply to #30

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/12/2009 2:44 PM

It's not always better, but it's easier for sure.

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#32
In reply to #30

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/12/2009 2:45 PM

Actually heating the area which houses the water closet may annul a code requirement.

Caution in this area with regards to water freezing in the toilet and the toilet breaking from the effect of expansion.

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#33

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/13/2009 11:06 PM

If it is a problem with the toilet freezing, as DAG suggests............I have the answer:-

Yes that's it..........a long drop toilet...........doesen't matter if it freezes!!!!!!!

WARNING:- Watch out for these pesky things

Redback spiders love outside toilets (Do you remember the song "There's a redback on the toilet seat")

Oops!.........Sorry..........I forgot you don't have them over there, do you. E-mail your address and I will send you some..........I should be able to find a few in my back yard, or shed.

Haven't seen any in the house lately, but they do venture in sometimes.

At least there is an antivenin for their bites now. I believe that they are related to the American Black Widow.

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#35
In reply to #33

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/14/2009 10:01 PM

We don't have red backs here but at -37°C ambient air your eyelids can freeze shut when exposed, use your imagination about what else can freeze shut

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#36
In reply to #35

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/15/2009 12:20 PM

.......I guess so bwire............one could crap until it clogs, then saw it off for logs!!!!!

By the way I only read about those temperatures..........I get cold in winter when occasionally it gets down to 10C early in the morning...........if I don't have a class I roll up at work at about 1000...........mind you the boss never says anything, because he knows how much work I do at home in the evenings and on weekends.

This is especially since some rather radical course changes have been made to courses that I currently teach............and I have to have a new 16 week course ready by January..........and from August 10 to mid December I have one week when I will not have a class, all other days I will be teaching 7-8 hous/day...................What was that about retirement........for the third time????

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#37
In reply to #36

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/15/2009 1:22 PM

"Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save" Will Rogers, Autobiography, 1949

I'm at a pre-retirement phase. I have three or four jobs but not all the time at each when one decreases another increases. Work is a thing done between times when no work is needed.

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#38
In reply to #37

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/15/2009 1:41 PM

"Work is a thing done between times when no work is needed"

How do you manage to create those spaces. I find that work (unpaid or otherwise) expands to overfill the time available. (Playing on CR4 does at least reduce the available time for the work to expand into)

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#39
In reply to #38

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/16/2009 5:09 PM

If you can't justify being in a hurry to get to work the answer will come to you.

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#34

Re: Building Codes and Bathroom Heating

05/14/2009 10:42 AM

In the part of Europe where I live it is almost universal to have central heating radiators in all toilets and bathrooms. My Californian friends both North and South (I have friends? Well, so it appears) have air-conditioning vents in their toilets - which provide heat in the winter.

If, on the other hand, it is electrical heat you are asking about, you just need the appropriate isolation and/or insulation on anything that can be reached. Again, infra-red bars at high level are quite common.

If in doubt about what is allowed, ask in your local builders merchant what can be done. Even if the store staff don't know, chances are that there'll be a knowledgeable builder passing by (particularly if you go in very first thing in the morning (their time) when they go to collect) and they are often helpful

If between us we haven't yet answered your question, please provide more details of what you mean.

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