do we really need AFCIs

[jmellc]

Is there any data on whether using the screwdriver release slot on a backstabbed connector has any chance of bending the internals to the point where the new connection will be less reliable than the original? Assuming you do not actually break the plastic, that is.

Another irritation with me. I have to dig out the smallest control screwdriver I have to fit those little slots, then sometimes crack the plastic in the process. Sometimes a knife blade is easier. Another reason to bypass the stabs altogether and use the screws.

 

[jmellc]

I could not find a direct e mail for the fire marshall so I sent one to him @indianapolis FD email on website. I also challenged him on the video itself. Wonder if I will get a response.

...and I have not heard back from him. I doubt I will. Maybe I can find a phone number and call him. Wonder what kind of response I would get?

 

[kwired]

I like the way you think.

I found out awhile back that a well known code instructor (not part of this org) had tried to get contractors to fight AFCI while they still could. I contacted him and asked where to sign up for the battle. He wrote back that he had given up the fight. He had spent too much personal and co. money on it. Said he could not get anyone on board. That is a lot of the trouble, that people in our trade will debate and fight something among ourselves but we will not take the fight to the authorities. I guess many of us think we have no chance. Torches and pitchforks can go a long way sometimes though.

Many electricians are too busy trying to compete with other electricians to even think about doing something together like that, especially the ones that primarily are in the residential market and are effected the most by AFCI rules.

 

[jmellc]

Many electricians are too busy trying to compete with other electricians to even think about doing something together like that, especially the ones that primarily are in the residential market and are effected the most by AFCI rules.

This is true, we are all busy trying to survive. It is also true that many of us just don't have any inclination to fight "city hall". I know a handful that don't even bother to vote in elections.

 

[kwired]

This is true, we are all busy trying to survive. It is also true that many of us just don't have any inclination to fight "city hall". I know a handful that don't even bother to vote in elections.

I have no problem with that other than those that complain about how things are have no real excuse to complain. If you are going to sit back and let everyone else make the rules then you need to quietly follow those rules and not complain about them.


I don't like the AFCI rules but I still comply with them, I will put my $.02 in where I can about how I feel about them, but I do realize that the people who got those rules implemented have a lot more resources to get those rules than I myself have to try to make those rules go away. I would join a group that is against the AFCI's though if I felt they were serious enough to take on the challenge.

 

[ptonsparky]

If this things actually work, shouldn't we be able to simulate a problem in the field & have them trip? Someone has mentioned a 70 amp load before they will work, IIRC. We use a lot of class CC fuses in control work. You can't seem to cause damage on purpose when you put those in a circuit.