AUSTRALIAN BATHROOM LIGHTING REQUIREMENTS, ZONES AND IP RATINGS

So..…Water and Electricity – what a great combination!!

Happily we have lots of rules around lighting in Australian bathrooms to keep us safe… ignore them and you’ll be in some seriously hot water.

Now for the *DRY* stuff around wet areas…..

The rules around lighting in wet areas are clearly defined in Australia, which makes them easy to follow. Sometimes, it will mean you can’t have what you want, but with the right professionals in your corner, you’ll be able to find a solution that complies- AND inspires.

If you like reading standards and technical documents, you can veer off now, grab a copy of AS3000 and acquaint yourself with all the details…. or you can leave that 611 page document of fun times to your Lighting Designer and Electrician and just get familiar with the highlights!

Like everything – if you understand a little of the WHY…. it makes it a lot easier to have informed opinions and make the best choices for your home.

BATHROOM ZONES

Bathrooms have ZONES in the Australian Standards, which tell us what lighting can and can’t be used within certain distances of water sources. There are 3 zones – and each one has different requirements.

Here’s the snapshot breakdown of your ZONES and what can live in them….

ZONE 0 = Inside Shower Base and inside a bath or basin.

ZONE 1 = Outside ZONE 0. For bath and shower it’s a vertical projection of ZONE 0 up to a height of 2.5M in Australia. Above 2.5M is officially considered outside the zone. It also includes the area 1200mm radius from fixed plumbing connections in your shower (that’s your shower rose).

ZONE 2 = 600mm radius outside Zone 1 of bath and shower AND 150mm ouside the vanity basin and a 400mm vertical projection above it.

ZONE 3 = 2.4M outside ZONE 2 and up to 2.5M above the floor

There are 2 zones applied to Basins, but for the purposes of lighting design, it is simplest to apply the larger ZONE 2 to your selections – nothing closer than 400mm above the top of the basin, and no closer than 150mm to the sides of the basin.

The safest bet is to select light fittings that are IP65 (fully sealed for use in wet areas) and then you can put your light anywhere you want (except underwater!!)

The problem with decorative lighting in bath zones in bathrooms is... most of the pretty lights we love to see in our bathrooms are not IP65 – for lots of really good technical reasons…. which we won’t get lost in right now. If you’re going anywhere near your bath with light, it will need to be IP rated AND have a remote driver so that the light fitting in the room is low voltage (12V or less) and perfectly safe.

If we want to have decorative lighting in our bathrooms, we need to pay attention to where it’s being installed (far away from water in basins, showers and baths), and try to choose something that is at least IP44 rated.

IP RATINGS

What is this IP????? It stands for Ingress Protection – and it’s a rating that classifies light fittings (and lots of other things) for their suitability for use in different locations based on how or if water and/or dust can get into the fitting where the electricity is.

So what IP ratings are needed in which ZONES?

(Any electricians reading this – we’re talking about Domestic homes here… not communal or commercial spaces…)

ZONE 0 = IPX7 – in lighting terms, that basically means you need to use underwater rated fittings that are also rated for baths and showers. Pretty unlikely you’re going to go down this path in a home – EXCEPT for the niche in your shower. There are linear LED products that are IP67 rated that are perfect for lighting that niche safely.

ZONE 1 & 2 = IPX4. That is IP44 OR IP65 in the lighting world. IP65 is a much stronger seal than IP44, but both comply. When putting light into a wall niche, you’re best to choose IP67. (Why do we say IP67 when the standard says IPX4? Because we know what sort of light fittings you’ll be looking at, and the good quality ones are usually rated IP67!!).

ZONE 3 = We don’t have to worry about it in this zone, we can use anything we like, but whilst it’s not defined in the Standards, you should also always consider steam in a bathroom and ideally only choose sealed light fittings, so you don’t get moisture problems