Arc fault Circuit Breakers Questions

[Robert11]

Hello:

Anyone replacing circuit breakers in their "older" homes with these new arc-fault types ?

Any problems with inadvertent tripping, etc. ?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

B.

[SQLit]

arc faults are required in bedrooms only with new constuction. My home was made in 1999 and does not have them nor would I spend the money to put them in.

[William Deans]

Greetings,

I have replaced many standard breakers many with arc-fault breakers -- but it is normally when I am removing knob and tube wiring and replacing it with romex. If the old wire is romex I would not expect a problem. If the old wire is knob and tube I would suggest replacement. If you do have an arcing it should be corrected.

Hope this helps, William

[newsgroups01REMOVEME]

Can you explain why?

I mean, my house was built in 93, and I plane in the future to replace most of my bkrs with afci's. So, since I haven't committed the money yet, I am still evaluating information about the breakers.

later,

tom @

[NoSpamFANatic]

[scott_z500]

Besides the cost, I think they might take up more room in your breaker box, just like GFCI breakers. That could be a problem for some.

[William Deans]

Greetings,

AFCI's reduce the chances of you and your family burning alive in a fire. That said they are probably still not worth the extra expense. I don't think AFCI's should be required (even in new construction) but no one asked me. You have to draw the line somewhere.

Hope this helps, William

[newsgroups01REMOVEME]

I think it's not the combustable contents that warrent the need, since my basement grossly beats out most of all my bedrooms. :-P

But your later comment about paranoia, might be very accruate why the bedrooms and no where else. But I have a funny feeling that they are the rooms we spend 1/3 of our lives in and have no heavy switchable loads like the kitchen or bathrooms. So limiations on the breaker's false positives might cause the oppsite thinking, not to be required in all bedrooms, but to be requered in all rooms, but limited to only bedrooms. That make sense?

Not saying you are wrong about the afci's effectivness, but the 'handful' is very questionable. I've seen insurance agencies come up with many, many fires that were electrical in origin. Now how many were from overloaded circuits, verse damaged conductors arcing, I haven't found a reliable source for that. But..... If you can spend

120 bucks on these breakers, and you later find one saved your house from going up in flames, pretty cheap cost for saving your house.

Side note: I replaced all my 10 year old ac wired smoke detectors with new ones, and battery backup versions. No one told me to do so, but from what I know, it was a good thing. Was it worth the money? I hope to never find out. Just like if I retro my house with afci's.

BTW, thanks for your reply, more information I get, better decision I can make with the afci's.

later,

tom @

[Chip C]

At least GFCIs and AFCIs don't beep at you when you make toast.

Hmmm, I'm having an idea: let's put the mandatory wired smoke alarms on the mandatory GFCI-protected circuits. When they sound a false alarm, you spray them with your mandatory fire extinguisher, the circuit gets soaked and the GFCI trips. Then it's quiet and you go back to bed!

Chip C

[newsgroups01REMOVEME]

Now everyone goes to the extreme. Having about 3 smoke detectors per person in my house, the likely hood of buring alive is minimal. But..... the chances of being homeless after a fire is good, and even having to repair/replace broken water/smoke damaged items and ripped open walls is more likely in a fire.

So, the extreme is very unlikely, even in fact based statistics, but preventing the start of fire(fires are more commmon, than fire's with fatalities), it seems that afci's are cheap.

Still working this out in my head, I haven't commited to it, cause even gfci's are vastly improved today compared to when they came out. So, maybe waiting is better.....

later,

tom @

[newsgroups01REMOVEME]

Tisk, Tisk, you know wired smoke alarms aren't to be on gfci circuits.

:-P

[George E. Cawthon]

The real point is that if you live in a single family dwelling that is relatively modern, the chance of fire is extremely small. If you don't smoke in bed (or elsewhere) and you use reasonable sense about lights and extension cords, your chance of fire is practically nil. The biggest danger is your children, so if you are really interested in not having a fire, get rid of that child (especially boy child). Well, that's a little extreme, however, it is true that most of the fires in the above mentioned condition are caused by children playing with matches or lighters and pets chewing on cords or knocking down hot appliances.

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