arc fault- does this sound right?

[boltneck]

vacuum cleaner trips arc fault breaker- no suprise there

there are two receptacles in the hallway, both on the same arc fault breaker
breaker trips instantly when vac is turned on when plugged into one receptacle
works fine plugged into the other one

btw havent been there yet, this comes from the homeowner

 

[Sierrasparky]

could be a bad section in the wire. isolate and repeat. You could bypass the run with a spare piece of wire to test.

 

[ELA]

What is the distance from each receptacle to the service cabinet(breaker location). Additional wire impedance could be the difference.

 

[hillbilly1]

Could be a worn receptacle and the arc fault is doing it's job.

 

[boltneck]

so.. if the breaker is tripping as a result of an arc fault, then it should trip at any receptacle on the circuit. right?

 

[boltneck]

ok maybe the fog is starting to clear

senario

arc fault ckt with 10 recepts- neutral to ground fault @ mid ckt- ckt will work fine up till the fault

the presence of a neutral to ground fault will not trip an arc fault breaker until a load is applied