No equipment ground on living room circuit & first outlet is split to allow Switch

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14u2trust

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No equipment ground on living room circuit & first outlet is split to allow Switch

I requested a afci/gfi protected breaker to meet requirements for no equipment ground on Living room circuit. The first receptacle on living room receptacle is split to allow top to be hot and bottom to be switched. There is no ceiling outlet for lighting just the split receptacle.

My question is: Does the combination (AFCI) arc fault breaker's GFCI capability suffice on circuits with no equipment ground or will I need to install non gounding (2 prong) receptacles to allow switching on living room circuit
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I'm not aware of any Combination AFCI breaker that has GFCI protection. Most of them with the exception of GE have ground fault protection (30-50ma) but not GFCI protection (4-6ma).
 
Almost all brands of afci have gfci protection however they will not satisfy code art. 210.8. The gfci protection in an afci is something like 30 or 40 ma which is good for equip. but not for personnel.
 
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I'm gonna have to call "misinformed" on this one. Combination arc-fault breakers refer to both parallel and series arc-faults, not the combination of AFCI and GFCI in a single breaker.
 
Dennis, only ground fault protections devices with the trip level of 4-6ma can be called GFCI's
 
14u2trust said:
I requested a afci/gfi protected breaker to meet requirements for no equipment ground on Living room circuit. The first receptacle on living room receptacle is split to allow top to be hot and bottom to be switched. There is no ceiling outlet for lighting just the split receptacle.

My question is: Does the combination (AFCI) arc fault breaker's GFCI capability suffice on circuits with no equipment ground or will I need to install non gounding (2 prong) receptacles to allow switching on living room circuit
.
Click to expand...

All of the answers to date are accurate in that the AFCI protection does NOT provide the level of GFCI protection that would allow you to install non-grounded three-prong receptacles as a replacement for a two-prong recp.

The problem is this type of answer doesn't really address your basic problem, as I see it. I believe you'd clearly like to go to three-prong receptacles and label them as non-grounded as the code allows. Right?

You used the word 'receptacles', plural. That being the case, I think I can see two solutions. Which one you use depends on your wiring situation.

1. If the first receptacle in the string (the one closest to the panel, upstream from all others) doesn't have to be split, you have it made. Just install a GFCI receptacle there and protect the remainder of the circuit by connection to the "Load" terminals.

2. If the first one does have to be split, you will need two receptacles at that location. Easiest way would be to install a rewiring box ('old work' box) a few inches away in the same stud space and cable between the two boxes. One box can have the GFCI to protect everything and the other can have a three-prong switched receptacle, either split or not.
 
2 choices;
1) Cheap - non-grounding replacements 406.3,d,3,a
2) Expensive - GFI replacements, including protecting the switched plug if 1st in circuit after switch (as described) 406.3,d,3,b

The next question is availability (tamper-proof?) of non-grounding replacements.
 
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