Arc Fault Circuit Breaker Requirements

Help create safer living spaces and provide valuable electrical safety and protection by understanding the requirements for afci and gfci protection.

Arc fault circuit breaker requirements.

As of 2017 afci requirements have greatly expanded. Afci and gfci requirements. The 2005 edition required combination afcis which respond to both parallel and series arcs for all electrical circuits that supply outlets in bedrooms of new homes. Afci arc fault circuit interrupter requirements for homes the arc fault circuit interrupter is designed to turn off an electrical circuit when an arc is detected that can lead to a fire or other hazardous conditions within the range of the protection that the afci is able to detect.

An arc fault circuit interrupter afci also known as an arc fault detection device afdd is a circuit breaker that breaks the circuit when it detects an electric arc in the circuit it protects to prevent electrical fires. Nfpa 70 national electrical code nec first required arc fault circuit interrupters afcis in the 1999 edition. Before 2008 afcis were only required to protect bedrooms. With ever changing electrical code requirements a circuit breaker with the ability to provide both arc fault protection as well as ground fault gfci protection was long overdue.

Use afci circuit breakers to add arc fault protection to the entire length of existing circuits. An arc fault circuit interrupter or afci is required on certain circuits to protect against electrical fires by cutting power when arc faults occur. Solve an afci tripping problem. Arc fault circuit interrupters 2017 nec update the 2017 nec update has increased the requirements for arc fault circuit interrupters afcis.

You ll find afcis in the main electrical panel or a subpanel. The national electrical code nec requirements for arc fault circuit interrupters afcis have become more stringent with each passing code cycle stirring up much discussion and debate among builders electrical contractors and other professionals involved in home construction. So where are arc fault breakers required for 2017. A combination arc fault circuit breaker is not equivalent to a dual function circuit breaker.

An afci selectively distinguishes between a harmless arc incidental to normal operation of switches plugs and brushed motors and a potentially dangerous arc that can. This is simply a matter of locating the circuit s hot wires black red or blue that are connected to the circuit breaker and the circuit s neutral white wire and replacing the circuit breaker in the panel with the afci type. Keep reading to find out. If you have a problem with an afci arc fault circuit interrupter shutting off in you main electrical panel you re not alone.

Where afci are needed. Afci in main panel. But beware the combination function that is identified on recently.