Arc fault tripping...I'm out of ideas

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crtemp

crtemp

Senior Member
Location
Wa state
Little Bill said:
The bath shouldn't be on an AFCI anyway.:happyno:

I would also try and not have any outside outlets on one either.
Click to expand...

I usually just wire the master and master bath on one circuit and have never had an issue with a fan tripping an arc fault. I've had to have wired upwards of 100 houses in the last two and a half years. I have my doubts that it's the fan but I'll know more Monday when I look at it. I'll let everyone know what I find if anything.


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mwm1752

mwm1752

Senior Member
Location
Aspen, Colo
You may have already checked but are the switches wired by the stab lock method? A load with the bad connection on the switch might cause enough arc to trip the breaker. Also some breakers are rated for 50-60 cycle and do not hold loads as well as the breakers marked 60 cycle only.
 
StarCat

StarCat

Industrial Engineering Tech
Location
Moab, UT USA
Occupation
Imdustrial Engineering Technician - HVACR Electrical and Mechanical Systems
The AFCI haters club

The AFCI haters club

To Action Dave...
Such devices should be hated and resisted tooth and nail
The next thing is the Driving Forces behind this kind of " Tek " need to be brought out into the light and the open so everyone can see that they are not about judicious administration but rather " control " and some other things that are far worse.
The Forces that are moving this kind of thing forward on a fast track should not be " allowed."
Also the idea that Engineering is there to make up for a lack of personal respmosibility or " common sense " in the general population needs to be done away with in short order.
The public education system makes people stupider by design.
There has been a major devolution of technology going on for over 30 years, especially with respect to solid state devices which are
Unstable by nature
Have an unacceptable failure rate
Are unreliable in real terms
Are very expensive
Once seen for what it is, all of the myriad confluence of solid state technology that everyday people are led to believe is what they need and want is on the whole quite a joke.
Any sane Technician in their right mind can see that this stuff is not working, is in fact making everything under the Sun much worse, and is colossal time waster.

All the best

SC
 
Little Bill

Little Bill

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee NEC:2017
Occupation
Semi-Retired Electrician
StarCat said:
To Action Dave...
Such devices should be hated and resisted tooth and nail
The next thing is the Driving Forces behind this kind of " Tek " need to be brought out into the light and the open so everyone can see that they are not about judicious administration but rather " control " and some other things that are far worse.
The Forces that are moving this kind of thing forward on a fast track should not be " allowed."
Also the idea that Engineering is there to make up for a lack of personal respmosibility or " common sense " in the general population needs to be done away with in short order.
The public education system makes people stupider by design.
There has been a major devolution of technology going on for over 30 years, especially with respect to solid state devices which are
Unstable by nature
Have an unacceptable failure rate
Are unreliable in real terms
Are very expensive
Once seen for what it is, all of the myriad confluence of solid state technology that everyday people are led to believe is what they need and want is on the whole quite a joke.
Any sane Technician in their right mind can see that this stuff is not working, is in fact making everything under the Sun much worse, and is colossal time waster.

All the best

SC
Click to expand...

So what is your favorite brand of AFCI breakers?:dunce::)
 
ptonsparky

ptonsparky

Tom
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
StarCat said:
To Action Dave...
Such devices should be hated and resisted tooth and nail
The next thing is the Driving Forces behind this kind of " Tek " need to be brought out into the light and the open so everyone can see that they are not about judicious administration but rather " control " and some other things that are far worse.
The Forces that are moving this kind of thing forward on a fast track should not be " allowed."
Also the idea that Engineering is there to make up for a lack of personal respmosibility or " common sense " in the general population needs to be done away with in short order.
The public education system makes people stupider by design.
There has been a major devolution of technology going on for over 30 years, especially with respect to solid state devices which are
Unstable by nature
Have an unacceptable failure rate
Are unreliable in real terms
Are very expensive
Once seen for what it is, all of the myriad confluence of solid state technology that everyday people are led to believe is what they need and want is on the whole quite a joke.
Any sane Technician in their right mind can see that this stuff is not working, is in fact making everything under the Sun much worse, and is colossal time waster.

All the best

SC
Click to expand...

Yup, technology sucks. Go back to horses, or at least to the 50s when cars were CARS. So what if they were totally wore out at 50,000 miles. Playing the radio at low speeds for very long meant the car wouldn't start later. Cold, hot, gas guzzlers, they were CARS!!
 
ActionDave

ActionDave

Chief Moderator
Staff member
Location
Durango, CO, 10 h 20 min from the winged horses.
Occupation
Licensed Electrician
StarCat said:
To Action Dave...
Such devices should be hated and resisted tooth and nail
The next thing is the Driving Forces behind this kind of " Tek " need to be brought out into the light and the open so everyone can see that they are not about judicious administration but rather " control " and some other things that are far worse.
The Forces that are moving this kind of thing forward on a fast track should not be " allowed."
Also the idea that Engineering is there to make up for a lack of personal respmosibility or " common sense " in the general population needs to be done away with in short order.
The public education system makes people stupider by design.
There has been a major devolution of technology going on for over 30 years, especially with respect to solid state devices which are
Unstable by nature
Have an unacceptable failure rate
Are unreliable in real terms
Are very expensive
Once seen for what it is, all of the myriad confluence of solid state technology that everyday people are led to believe is what they need and want is on the whole quite a joke.
Any sane Technician in their right mind can see that this stuff is not working, is in fact making everything under the Sun much worse, and is colossal time waster.

All the best

SC
Click to expand...
I'm all in. Sign me up. Do I get a badge or something? A cape, mask, and some tights?
 
C

Comped

New User
Location
Bellmawr NJ
Arc fault tripping out of ideas

Arc fault tripping out of ideas

I don't see how the range could trip a AFCI breaker. But you may want to consider the bathroom and outdoor items on the circuit. Both areas are not required even in the 2014 code .

Ask the customer if it was raining when it tripped . ( not the day you came out) the day it tripped.
I wired a condo back in 2005 we put the outdoor balcony recpt. On the bed room cir the box got some water in it and tripped the AFCI.

also the outdoor lights are they on toggle switches or some sort of timer motion device

are there any receptacles in the house on this circuit if there are I would plug a high current device into the receptacle furthest away from the source . Should trip on a loose connection.
 
ghostbuster

ghostbuster

Senior Member
Location
Great White North
StarCat said:
To Action Dave...
Such devices should be hated and resisted tooth and nail
The next thing is the Driving Forces behind this kind of " Tek " need to be brought out into the light and the open so everyone can see that they are not about judicious administration but rather " control " and some other things that are far worse.
The Forces that are moving this kind of thing forward on a fast track should not be " allowed."
Also the idea that Engineering is there to make up for a lack of personal respmosibility or " common sense " in the general population needs to be done away with in short order.
The public education system makes people stupider by design.
There has been a major devolution of technology going on for over 30 years, especially with respect to solid state devices which are
Unstable by nature
Have an unacceptable failure rate
Are unreliable in real terms
Are very expensive
Once seen for what it is, all of the myriad confluence of solid state technology that everyday people are led to believe is what they need and want is on the whole quite a joke.
Any sane Technician in their right mind can see that this stuff is not working, is in fact making everything under the Sun much worse, and is colossal time waster.

All the best

SC
Click to expand...

Here is a form you can fill out to officially register your AFCI complaints.

http://www.afcisafety.org/report.html

:D
 
Dennis Alwon

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
mopowr steve said:
Yes, I have heard that clipping a ferrite core on the lines can help but I haven't tried it yet. You know like the ones you see often on computer cords.
Click to expand...


I would not use just any piece of ferrite. Ge sent me some when I was having a problem. It worked in one case but not the other. Also you cannot use them on circuits that have lights that are dimmed.
 
mopowr steve

mopowr steve

Senior Member
Location
NW Ohio
Occupation
Electrical contractor
That's some good info to know!
Hey Denny could you check my post "anything really wrong with this?" Tell me what you think.
 
G

GoldDigger

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Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
Dennis Alwon said:
I would not use just any piece of ferrite. Ge sent me some when I was having a problem. It worked in one case but not the other. Also you cannot use them on circuits that have lights that are dimmed.
Click to expand...

What is the problem with using them on dimmer circuits?
I can see problems with circuits that carry RF signals piggybacked on the AC.

Tapatalk!
 
G

GoldDigger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
It should not. The important harmonics of 60Hz generated by the SCR switching are still far below what the ferrite would attenuate.

Tapatalk!
 
H

hgrace

Member
Utility was the problem

Utility was the problem

We had a similar issue with a new home we wired in 2012, AF's would trip all the time, we disconnected all loads, still tripped. Had to pull them, a couple of weeks later we had an issue with irregular voltage. Tested mains with breaker on and off, found voltage issue was from utility company. I called a friend, a lineman for the Utility, he and crew showed up within 20 minutes and before he got the bucket all the way up to the pole, he found problem. Bad splices and taps at the transformer. Lazy sloppy work and linemen tapping one drop from another (Only 3 drops) charbroiled one phase and the neutral.
New clean splices and the problem was solved. In my research I did find that other things can create these same issues, one of the simplest is a cheep surge suppressor plug strip or cube, popular in the 90s for computers.

Good Luck
 
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