Light switches outside of the bathroom

Why do the Germans put the bathroom light switches outside of the bathrooms?! I have asked several Germans but none of them seem to know is it just a cruel joke so when you are in the middle of a pee someone can switch the light out on you?!

It's all to do with the wonderful combination of water and electricity. Some people decided that it was, get this, dangerous to have 240V where you could splash water on it. Wimps.

atleast they dont turn off after a few minutes like the ones on the stairs!!
DM

erm...electricity & water don't normally mix

Do they? None of the light switches in my house are outside the rooms, bathrooms or otherwise. Nor are they at work, in fact I've never seen this here.

nor in mine. I have a lightswitch and a socket inside both my bathrooms.

I have survived the last 25 years in the U.S. without being killed by a lightswitch in the bathroom... I guess I didn't think the Germans bathed that differently than us...

I've seen this in different countries, including the US.
Yet to see it in Germany.

It might just go on the architect or builder rather than country.

But then why are there always outlets in the bathroom?

I have the socket in the bathroom, just not the switch. oh well, at least it doesn't turn off after a minute like Danger said

all my swithces are inside the rooms.

We have switches and sockets in our bathroom.

In our house two bathrooms have light switches outside, the third one inside. I think the architect was either confused or had a peculiar sense of humour.

3 bathrooms! Do you live in a mansion? How many peacocks on the front lawn?

How the hell can you afford a 3-bathroom house in this town?

where would one even find a house that big in Munich?!

Kay can I come and live with you?! I'll be your pool girl...

One isn't technically a bathroom, it's just a closet with a bucket in it. She's always trying to show off like that.

Nothing of the kind, unfortunately, just didn't want to go into the bathroom/shower/loo breakdown. And no front lawn, either, only a back garden the size of a postage stamp!

Edit: Seeing the number (and the speed!) of reactions, I guess I should have given all the boring 'sanitary details' right away!

Personally I think they took the term water closet to literally. They used a design for a closet and applied it to the w.c.

But Benpanter may be correct,
I found this link,
Lighting
If you are altering the lighting, take care to use light fittings that are designed for use in bathrooms. The switch must either be located outside the bathroom or be a pull cord switch. The current wiring regulations will specify the correct way of wiring a bathroom."

and here.

Lights
" Light fittings must be well out of reach and enclosed to keep water out. Enclosed ceiling lights are preferable to pendant light fittings.
Normal wall-mounted light switches may not be suitable in a bathroom as they may allow dampness or water to enter, such as from wet hands. A ceiling-mounted pull-cord switch with a cord made of insulating material is the safest option."

Here wot you doing living in my house?

How old is the lighting rule then? our bathroom has normal (not pull cord) switches inside it and the building is opnly 4 years old.

Moi, a show-off? Certainly not. But if you really want to know, I have TWO buckets...

Miss Fancypants huh?

Yes, I'll admit I was being a little fawcet-ious.

In the UK it's against building regs to have anything more than a pull cord switch and a shaving socket in a bathroom. It caused me great suprise when I found both a switch and a socket in my bathroom here. I considered being terrified by it, but decided it probably wasn't worth the effort as I tend to have reasonable skills at not firing the shower across the room. Usually.

It appears I'm still here a year later.

Modern German practice is to use an "earth current detector" (FI-Schutzschalter) in "wet" areas to switch off the power if it detects a difference in the currents in the live and neutral wires to the sockets and lights. This assumes that if less current returns from a socket than goes to it, then some current must be going somewhere else - probably through you to earth! Look for it in your switch/fuse box. All the circuit breakers in bathrooms, kitchen, utility roomy, balcony/terrasse are fed through it. It saved my life when I mowed through the mower's cable.

Better to have the light switch outside the bathroom than the way bathrooms are wired in some countries. Take Guatemala, for example. Their water heaters are an electrical appliance that is wired into the actual shower- directly above the shower head, and it's not uncommen that these wires are not encased- just hanging out taunting you while you cover yourself in water. In this area, I am glad that the Germans are so thorough with their safety. Besides, it's kind of fun to turn the light off while someone is in there sometimes. hehehe Just don't do it to me!

@jeremyB
Same as in the US but there called GFI (Ground Fault Interupts) and have been around for over 15 years or so..
Seems like the German and Uk regs need to be updated to bring them into the 21 cent.

My house here is 18 years old and I've lived in it for over 14 years and it's got them!

3.5 baths in our house - only one has the light switch on the outside - although this 'bathroom' was actually designed to be the sauna room (with shower, toilet and sink). And, the weird thing is that this switch has one of those red lights on it so you know that it's on (just like the switches for the outdoor electricity - so no one can steal your electricity). I'm not exactly sure what that is for...if anyone knows, please tell, I've always been curious.

you have to remember that we are not all as thick as Americans but hey whatever

oh yeah, by the way, we have had circuit breakers as long as you, google where they came from maybe ?

I do think there is a difference between a normal circuit breaker and a GFI circuit.. A normal breaker is there for power spike etc. while the GFI breaker is made to work with sudden/unexpected earthings on the line.

For a more detailed explanation - Google

@kitcat: you kind of answered your own question - you can see from outside whether the light is on and thus, by extension, whether someone's in there. Maybe it has to do with a German custom that freaked me (strait-laced Brit) out when I first came over here 20 years ago, that not all bathroom doors had locks on. ie. seeing whether the light is on stops you barging in on people "catching up on their reading" or whatever. At night, anyway. God help you in daylight.
Turn this question around and ask why British bathrooms have NO useful power sockets ANYWHERE. (Rhetorical question, was more or less answered somewhere in the thread - more of a rant trigger really)

Thats what whistling was invented for.

Multitasking (reading, whistling, ...) gets pretty strenuous after a while though. And the Germans I knew with no locks on the doors hadn't realised that whistling was an option.

Listen, after somones had a Schweinshaxe, blaukraut and 3 weissbiers it should be pretty obvious that its occupied!

@Kay. We have nearly the same in our house but 2 bathrooms have switches on the inside and one has the switch on the outside??!. Maybe it has to do with one of the bathrooms is described as a "kinder" bathroom so the switch is on the outside in order to prevent the kids from, errr, messing about with the switch when they are in there on their own (not that I have kids so its just a guess)

hmm i never really thought about this light switch stuff. one of the 3 bathrooms here has the switchoutside that'd be i guess the "masterbath" the other 2 are inside the room. i dont question light switches here i just break them and then need the elecrtrician to come multiple times over 2 or so weeks to finally get the damn thing fixed!

But would you really be happy with this arrangement? I don't think I would trust the circuit breaker / GFI / whatever enough... how about a test? You get in the bath, and we'll drop a live toaster in and see if what fails first, you or RCD / GFI / circiut breaker.

@benpanther
The GFCI would save your A**, if installed properly. This is exactly what it's made to do..
If you had done your own research you would have found info like this:


But it seems that you would rather make sly comments instead of learning something new..
O'well such as life..

How Stuff Works - GFCI
How Stuff Works - Normal Circuit Breakers and other Info

Sense of humour bypass? No, I think you misunderstand me, trying to phrase a serious question in an amusing way. I'll try again... The question is, how far would you trust it? Would you go as far as to drop a live appliance in with you? Of course you wouldn't! Hence the reason for the regulations, which are aimed at the lowest common denominator.

What is funny is that at our place, the light switch is outside the bathroom, but they don't have any problems with putting the gas heater inside there.

My bathroom light switch is on the inside, but what I find funny is theres no pattern regarding up or down being off or on. Back home up is always on and down is always off, but here its totally random.

Hmm, I checked out the bathrooms this weekend. The one 'bathroom' with the switch on the outside is really supposed to be the sauna room (the previous owners who built the house had planned it that way) - the door even has a frosted glass window so you can see if the light is on in the bathroom, which is why it makes no sense to have the little red light in the middle of the switch.

Or, maybe they ran out of normal switches and had an extra switch with the little red light?

God Ive been wondering about the outside lightswitch too. In my apartment the light switch for the bathroom is right under the one for the kitchen light and the amount of times that I have left my roomie in total darkness while doing god knows what in the bathroom...