Jerseydaze
Senior Member
CH 20 amp AFCI dedicated circuit treadmill .Trips every time standard breaker works fine. Am close to cutting cord and hardwiring.Yes I know voids warranty.Any suggestions?
AFCI Headache
- Thread starter Jerseydaze
- Start date
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marti smith
Senior Member
Check to see that the neutral isn't pinched in the treadmill.
cadpoint
Senior Member
- Location
- Durham, NC
No shared neutrals, and you might truely have a short via nail or a rub open.
Good Luck. :roll:
Good Luck. :roll:
Jerseydaze
Senior Member
Nope I try ed a rigged extension cord directly to the treadmill same results.
cadpoint
Senior Member
- Location
- Durham, NC
I can feel your pain and future pain, maybe in another cycle of a code we will be allowed to install (one) general service plug in the house not AFCI but only GFCI protected to be used for small motors (vacuums) and chargers that do arc! I know many a time I forget to turn off a device and push it in "on", or
as like any other home owner yank on a plug 10' from point of connection. I try not to, but you know...
I can only assume it's the tread mill also... seems you need to measure the inrush that being seen on the circuit.
as like any other home owner yank on a plug 10' from point of connection. I try not to, but you know...
I can only assume it's the tread mill also... seems you need to measure the inrush that being seen on the circuit.
marti smith
Senior Member
The last "problem" I found with an afci was the terminals on the recep for that circuit weren't torqued enough. Let us know what you find.
ELA
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrical Test Engineer
Please add details such as:
Does it trip immediately upon application of power, when tread mill is on low, on high speed, under load or unloaded etc.
This will help to determine if tripping due to GFP or suspected arc recognition.
What manufacturer of AFCI are you using?
growler
Senior Member
- Location
- Atlanta,GA
Run some other heavy motor on the circuit. Heavy drill motor and see if that trips it. There may just be a bad treadmill motor.
Had a homeowner with a microwave that tripped GFCI receptacles and he didn't want to believe it . Pluged in his refrigerater into that receptacle for about a week and it didn't trip it. I told him to by a new microwave.
I would contact the manufacturer of the treadmill and see if this has been a problem for them. The motor may be arcing at the brushes.
Jerseydaze
Senior Member
Yeah I tryed my drill I tryed an other Afci breaker Its cutler hammer CH . Tred mill starts up and as speed goes up it trips id say 30 seconds.
ty
Senior Member
- Location
- 3rd Rock from the Sun
We are CH installer.
Although possibl, i doubt highly that it is the AFCI breaker. Especially if you tried a different AFCI breaker and it still did it.
I sense leakage current in the treadmill.
JohnJ0906
Senior Member
- Location
- Baltimore, MD
What does the manufacturers instructions say? I seem to recall some of them say not to use on a GFCI protected circuit. Perhaps there could be a problem with AFCIs as well.
ELA
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrical Test Engineer
If I understand your reponses the drill does not trip the AFCI,
and another AFCI of the same (CH) brand will trip on the treadmill... Is that correct?
Could be that the AFCI thinks it is a series arc due to the brushes arcing and/or RF from the drive.
I like how Siemens AFCI's have diagnosis LEDs. You could try putting in a regular breaker and temporarily follow it by a Siemens breaker just for testing.
Maybe the Siemens will hold implying that the CH AFCI is at fault.
If the Siemens trips the LEDs can tell you if it is leakage or an arc detection.
and another AFCI of the same (CH) brand will trip on the treadmill... Is that correct?
Could be that the AFCI thinks it is a series arc due to the brushes arcing and/or RF from the drive.
I like how Siemens AFCI's have diagnosis LEDs. You could try putting in a regular breaker and temporarily follow it by a Siemens breaker just for testing.
Maybe the Siemens will hold implying that the CH AFCI is at fault.
If the Siemens trips the LEDs can tell you if it is leakage or an arc detection.
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
Or it could just be the fact that AFCIs are not really ready to be used as required by the code as there are some items of electrical equipment with no leakage current and no arcing faults that cause AFCIs to trip.
The easiest way to check to see if leakage is causing the AFCI to trip is to connect it it a GFCI. If is doesn't trip the GFCI it is not a leakage current problem.
Buck Parrish
Senior Member
- Location
- NC & IN
I ran a dedicated circuit for the customers new tread mill. The store told them that,s what it needed because it kept tripping the breaker.
Then it still tripped the regular breaker on the dedicated 20 amp circuit.
Turns out the store was Play It Again Sports and it was only new to them. Not a new item. The motor was shot.
Then it still tripped the regular breaker on the dedicated 20 amp circuit.
Turns out the store was Play It Again Sports and it was only new to them. Not a new item. The motor was shot.
Jerseydaze
Senior Member
Circuit is gfi protected with a dead front gfi doesnt trip
electricguy61
Senior Member
As has been reported on this website numerous times, vacuum cleaners commonly trip AFCI's.
My personal, gut feeling (fallible, I readily admit), is that AFCI's were forced on the electrical industry by manufacturers anxious to sell new products, without the benefit of real world testing.
Have you heard of the "Toyota" debacle?
My personal, gut feeling (fallible, I readily admit), is that AFCI's were forced on the electrical industry by manufacturers anxious to sell new products, without the benefit of real world testing.
Have you heard of the "Toyota" debacle?
Same problem with a Landice treadmill and a Cutler Hammer CH120CAF (combination arc fault). Within 60 seconds of the treadmill starting the breaker will trip. A standard CH120 breaker and treadmill connected through a GFCI outlet will not trip the breaker or GFCI.
When the treadmill is plugged into a surge suppressor (Tripp Lite ISOBAR4ULTRA) the combination AFCI will no longer trip.
YMMV. It's unclear what the Tripp Lite is preventing the AFCI from seeing, or just how much AFCI functionality is being negated by using a device like this which is built to suppress noise. It may also be filtering the waveforms the (C)AFCI uses to detect real arcing.
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mark
- Location
- Windsor, CO NEC: 2017
- Occupation
- Service Manager
Yes, 50mA versus a GFCI's 5mA.
- Status