AFCIs on a 220v circuit, sort of

[e michael brandt]

Thanks for letting me know the details of these GFCIs.

emichael

peter wrote:

[Tom Horne, Electrician]

You can buy 12/2+2 with ground cable for the purpose of supplying two AFCI protected circuits in one cable run. Both Square D and Cutler Hammer offer two pole common neutral AFCIs but the price is very high. You will only find them through an electrical supply house. General Electric's version can be seen at .

[e michael brandt]

I had read that such cable was to be available. I , but did not know it was already on the market. This is good info for the future, but unfortunately the horse is out of this barn. After running the cable (this one and others) up to the attic, I filled the chase with blown insulation and foam so there is no longer any way to run cable easily.

What i really need now is AFCIs that go into the outlet box. Are they on the near horizon that you know of?

emichael

Tom Horne, Electrician wrote:

[Tom The Great]

This is not a how-to, but to get you familar with how maybe an electrician can help you.

1. Order an expensive double-pole AFCI breaker for your current wiring method and panel.

or

1. Pull the orginal wire(12/3) down into a small load center, then installed AFCI's in that load center then feed you bedrooms.

or

1. Tape to the end of the 12/3 some 12/2/2 and pull. The 12/3 might feed back to your panel and then you will have the correct wire and do a normal AFCI installation.

or

1. A combination of these listed, or other ideas.

See? The idea is that you NEED a qualified electrician to help, and home inspectors only evaluate overall work, they don't tell YOU (or who does the work) how to do their job, it is their (or YOU) responsiblity.

Good luck, and please tell us what happens in follow-ups.

later,

tom @

[e michael brandt]

Tom, you are indeed great. i am thrilled to learn that there are actually double pole AFCI's, designed for shared neutrals like mine! Altho pricey, that is the way to go. A simple solution. thanks so much.

emichael

Tom The Great wrote:

[Tom The Great]

Like baby pigeons, I've never seen a double pole AFCI, but I guess they exist from practicle need, and people told me so.

Good luck, do a quick google search with information of what type of panel you have.

Good luck, but I stand by the suggestion you get a licensed/qualified electricion going forward.

later,

tom @

[Chris Lewis]

According to e michael brandt :

[That only applies to the NEC. The CEC _requires_ tied breakers on shared neutral circuits, period.]

But that's irrelevant. The original issue is NOT whether the breakers are tied together, but because they share a neutral.

You _cannot_ feed a shared neutral circuit with two separate AFCI's or GFCI's. It just don't work. Code or not.

You either have to split the neutral (run another cable), OR, install the AFCI's AFTER the circuit splits to the bedrooms.