cschmid said:
I guess what i am after is in other threads there is alot of whinning about the AFCI's. I want to kow who is responsible for the customers inconvience..and how they are percieving this inconvience..How does this reflect on our industry..because the 08 has not been adopted here yet..in an already down turned economy how does this affect your businesses..here unhappy customers mean lower cash flow..
As described in those other threads *whatever* the cause truly is the onus is on the EC to determine the cause. From the EC's standpoint, he has to and I mean he MUST be vigilant that NOTHING behind the wall can be the cause of an arc before the GWB goes up and to be super careful that all make up and devicing is done well and that all fixtures are inspected before install as well.
The extra time to verify all this is done is work that the initial bid will have to include with the GC and/or owner understanding that the afci requirement (as well as good practice) warrant the specific efforts. With that understood and the wiring verified (and that time charged for) then you are back to the usual practice of warranting your work as you usually do.
Warranty problems the EC will have to eat will be either in the panel or an outlet box all of which are easy enough to access.
How many extra inspection and testing hours will this add to the typical new home?