AFCI breakers

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sarosa

Member
Location
Leesburg, Va.
Gentleman
I am brand new to the forum and at the same time am having an issue
with Cuttler Hammer CH type combination arc fault breakers.
This is in a single family house about 4500 sq ft with
a 400amp service.
Plug and lighting circuits are separate. Nothing special about this house.
I have about 4 or 5 circuits where I can't keep them shut..
Once I put a load on it, it opens. Wiring is very clean.
Is there something Im missing about wiring a whole house with
panels loaded with arc fault breakers.
Any insight would be a great help.
Thanks
 

Sierrasparky

Senior Member
Location
USA
Occupation
Electrician ,contractor
Welcome to the Forum!

Well AFCI's can be tricky buggers.
Couple of steps to test of faults.
  • check to make sure the nuetral that goes with the hot of the same circuit is landed on the same breaker in the N lug.
  • Make sure that downstream the nuetral is not comingled with another nuetral from another circuit.
  • If the above is ok replace the breakers one by one with a GFCI type breaker. If that GFCI breaker trips then you have a nuetral to ground issue.
  • Work one circuit at a time. Don't try multiple things at a time.
 

GoldDigger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
If the CH breakers provide any indication of the cause of trip, look at that first.
With 5 circuits all failing individually, I would look for:
1. A ground/neutral problem that affects all of the wiring in the house,
2. A mismatched neutral or other installation mistake affecting all the AFCIs individually,.
3. A great ugly source of RF interference which is false triggering all of the AFCIs.

For number 3 try turning off all the other breakers to see if you can identify the source of the RF.

Tapatalk!
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
After spending lots of time an no real results, smash it with a big hammer.

It won't really fix anything but will relieve a little frustration:happyyes:
 

sarosa

Member
Location
Leesburg, Va.
AFCI breakers

Thank you all for the tips
The one about the hammer almost happened
I have a good starting point and I will keep in touch
with the results.
Please continue with ideas or experiences.
Thanks
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
I have seen afci and led fixtures not like each other. I just received a demo recessed can for led lighting and the can trips the afci as soon as there is a load above 4 amps which GE states you must have in order for the afci to sense the arc.

Now that I know this is an issue we need to work it out before they get installed. I am not installing 80 cans and then have to go back and mess with them.

So what kind of fixtures are these? If the wiring is all sound then it sounds like you may have an issue with the fixtures.
 

A/A Fuel GTX

Senior Member
Location
WI & AZ
Occupation
Electrician
I've seen recessed cans that had the screw that fastens the lampholder to the bracket that holds it in the wrong place causing a N-G short that trips the AFCI instantly when the switch is turned on.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
I have seen afci and led fixtures not like each other. I just received a demo recessed can for led lighting and the can trips the afci as soon as there is a load above 4 amps which GE states you must have in order for the afci to sense the arc.

Now that I know this is an issue we need to work it out before they get installed. I am not installing 80 cans and then have to go back and mess with them.

So what kind of fixtures are these? If the wiring is all sound then it sounds like you may have an issue with the fixtures.
My reply to GE is I should be able to load that circuit to at least 12 or 16 amps continuously (15 or 20 amp breakers respectively) with a load that has nothing wrong with it:happyyes:.
 
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