AFCIs required?

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*sparky*

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Hello,
I am a new member to this forum. I have a been a follower of the forum until a recent situation at work compelled me to become a member so I could pose this question.
We are working on a commercial project for a church camp. They have a dorm building that they revamped, making it into different rooms. There are three rooms that will be used for living quarters, complete with a bed, a full bath, and a dining room. There is also a nurses station, a mechanical room, and two dorm rooms that each have an occupancy of ten with a double door joining them. These two rooms have bathrooms as well. Now, here is my question. Are arc-faults required in the dorm rooms? What about the bathrooms? Technically they are bedrooms, but not in the same sense as a bedroom in a single family house. Also, does the fact that this a commercial job add anything to the picture? Thanks!
 

charlie b

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Lockport, IL
Occupation
Retired Electrical Engineer
Does the building have permanent provisions for cooking? If so, given the rest of your description, this is a "dwelling unit," per the NEC definition. So the AFCI rules in 210.12 would come into play.

If the building does not have any cooking provisions, then this is not a "dwelling unit," and you would not need AFCI protection.

Welcome to the forum.
 

jbelectric777

Senior Member
Location
NJ/PA
AFCI protection is not required anywhere GFCI is installed like in bathrooms, kitchens and outdoors. Any dwelling area MUST be AFCI protected even in multiple listed occupancies like dorm rooms. These days its all either AF or GF protected unless your state or locality has there own UCC like NJ. For a while NJ was not requiring any AF like all the other states, but they have their own UCC which basically adopts the entire new NEC then lists their own exceptions.
 

delfadelfa

Member
Location
Cincinnati, OH
AFCI protection is not required anywhere GFCI is installed like in bathrooms, kitchens and outdoors.

Not to get off the subject but what if you have an arc which causes a fire between the breaker in the panel and the GFI receptacles in the kitchen, bathroom or outside. If the panel is near the bedrooms, these unAF protected wires are passing over or under your bed and I guess no protection is needed because you have a GFI in your garage. I don't remember much but I do remember something about if you installed an AFCI receptacle to protect house wiring, it could not be more than 5' form the panel and the feed for it had to be in conduit. Why am I not being protected from arc's before my GFI receptacle? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os2DdhXJHzc
 
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david

Senior Member
Location
Pennsylvania
I would think to allow for a more affordable way or option to provide arc fault protection for a buildings wiring system. The metal wiring method up to six ft was a compromise to allow manufactures of rec to provide the same protection and give consumers an option other then a breaker
 
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