What IP rating to choose for the bathroom?

Lighting a bathroom requires a slightly different approach than the lighting arrangement of other rooms. Bathroom lamps must have a certain IP rating, and therefore show resistance to water. Want to find out which lamps to choose for your bathroom? Read on.

 

Choosing a light fixture for the bathroom

Bathroom lamps place special demands on us. The bathroom is usually a small room where there is increased evaporation of water from the shower or bathtub. Water is therefore present not only in liquid form, but also in the air, and easily condenses on walls and equipment. For this reason, in bathrooms (and other spaces where there is a risk of moisture) we use luminaires protected against contact with moisture.

So what kind of lamps should you choose to make using the bathroom safe? The marking that helps to find out what the degree of protection of the luminaire is is the international IP classification.

 

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How to read IP?

The IP code, or index protection rating, consists of two digits that determine the degree of protection of an electrical device against solid objects and water resistance. What does this mean in practice? First of all - not only lamps have an IP mark. If you look at, for example, electrical sockets intended for installation in the bathroom, you will also notice this marking.

The degree of tightness applies not only to moisture, but also to solids, i.e. dust, which may interfere with the operation of the lamp. This parameter is equally important when we think about facade and garden luminaires exposed to various external factors.

There are two numbers after the letters IP. The first of them, in the range of 0-6, determines the degree of protection against solid objects. The second, in the range of 0-8, determines the degree of lamp protection against water penetration. As we are considering here what IP degree to choose for a bathroom, it is worth remembering that there are standards specifying what type of luminaire can be placed in a given space.

 

Which bathroom IP will suffice?

The bathroom lamps you find in catalogs are usually IP44. However, the issue is not that simple. Some parts of the bathroom are more exposed to moisture than others. So which lamps to choose?

The rules for the installation of lighting fittings since 2010 are defined in the document PN-HD 60364-7-701. This is a standard that applies to electrical installations in rooms equipped with a bath or shower. The standard divides the room into security zones and describes the required fields for these zones. Thanks to this, we keep a safe distance from a potential source of water.

Each of the zones, with the required tightness of the luminaires, is characterized by a different level of risk. Other lamps may be fully submerged, others may be under water jets or drops of water falling from any direction. The zones also differ in the permissible supply voltage. We carefully mark it in the descriptions of each zone.

Remember also that the standard defines the minimum resistance of lamps to water. Nothing stands in the way of choosing a lamp that has a higher degree of tightness than required.

 

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Zone 0: luminaire for bathtub, shower cabin

Light sources placed in the bottom of the bathtub or the wall of the bathtub