Putting infrared heating in a bathroom is basically a war against steam. You’ve got all that moisture floating around, and it loves to find its way into standard housings. Once water vapor gets in there, it creates a path for electricity to wander where it shouldn’t, which is a great way to blow a fuse or cause a short circuit. To actually keep things safe, you can’t just throw a box around the wires. You need a real barrier. Dealing with the electricity I always use high-temp ceramic insulators at the lamp terminals. It keeps the current from leaking into the chassis. As for the wiring, don’t settle for the basic stuff. Go with silicone or PTFE insulation. Why? Because these bathrooms go from freezing to steaming in minutes, and cheap wires just can’t handle that kind of constant expansion and contraction. They’ll crack. Also, make sure the metal housing has its own dedicated ground. That way, if something does go wrong, the breaker trips instantly instead of turning your ceiling frame into a live wire. Keeping the water out A recessed heater is basically a condensation trap. To stop that, I use IP-rated gaskets on the junction box to lock the steam out of the connections. The tricky part is the lamp interface. You need a seal that can take the heat of shortwave IR without melting into a puddle. Skip the cheap plastics. I stick with reinforced polymers or tempered glass. They keep the seal tight but still let the heat pass through to your skin. The balancing act Here’s the catch: if you seal everything too tight, you trap the heat inside the unit. If the electronics can’t breathe, you’ll fry the internal wiring or keep triggering the thermal cut-offs. It’s a bit of a trade-off. You want it water-tight, but you still need a thermal vent or a heat sink to move that heat away from the terminals. And for the love of everything, wire it up to a GFCI. It’s your last line of defense. If even a tiny bit of current leaks, the power cuts off before anyone even notices something is wrong.