peter d
Senior Member
- Location
- New England
Everyone knows I hate AFCI's. But which ones are the least prone to nuisance tripping. I've had a lot of problems with Square D Homeline.
Gee.
The ones we were using 30 years ago worked great
They were universal and listed for use in any panel, even a fuse panel.
The ones we were using 30 years ago worked great
They were universal and listed for use in any panel, even a fuse panel.
The reason ge is has the least issue, imo, is because the gfp is taken out of it. I wonder if most faults are ground fault and not arc fault hence the trouble with tripping with other brands.
I'll take a 30 year old electrical system any day of the week over the junk we have now. :happyyes:
I think a lot of the trouble is ground faults, but faults that still need correcting, they just don't get noticed until someone puts in a device that responds to the condition. Every AFCI trip problem I was faced with solving so far has been damaged NM cable and a neutral to ground fault or something wrong with a plugged in item. These are faults we have occasionally had for years but never notice them unless they were on a GFCI protected circuit.The reason ge is has the least issue, imo, is because the gfp is taken out of it. I wonder if most faults are ground fault and not arc fault hence the trouble with tripping with other brands.
I had a kitchen reset that required the service center to be upgraded, and the homerun modification of all the legacy branch circuits in a late-1940s rambler. The kitchen required the structural alteration of the original wiring path for all the homeruns of the dwelling legacy branch circuits. With trepidation I placed these otherwise-untouched legacy branch circuits on GE CAFCI and waited for any tripping behavior.I haven't had the AFCI trip issue yet that is result of a incompatible appliance with AFCI - but I'm sure it happens and I probably will run into it someday.
I empathize with your yearning. In my working area the regulatory reality allows nothing but the 2017 NEC, as written and un-modified, to be used to do an approvable installation. 2002 thru 2017. Many here have pushed back against the regulators. . . sigh.
You bringing up a 30 yr old system, to me, brings up a very important strength of the GE single pole combination-type AFCI (CAFCI). Multiwire branch circuits can be protected with two single pole CAFCIs that are "handle-tied." For that matter, on a multiwire, I can handle-tie a plain old breaker and a CAFCI.
More than the rock solid minimum of nuisance trips, the GE CAFCI is the most versatile, way above and beyond anybody else's AFCI.
Our gfci/afci ocpd technology openly states within it's manufacturers instructions that they can not be megged...
That and a good GFCI should be able to take 1000 volts line to ground/neutral to ground anyway, no real point in testing line to neutral -which is what could cause some damage.My Megger adjusts to 100 volts, which is plenty for finding leakage failures that trip A/GFCI's, and won't destroy GFCI devices.
For existing residential service work there's no need to crank the Megger up to 500+ volts.
We're checking insulation resistance at operating conditions, not Hi-Pot testing for NRTL certifications.
My Megger adjusts to 100 volts, which is plenty for finding leakage failures that trip A/GFCI's, and won't destroy GFCI devices.
For existing residential service work there's no need to crank the Megger up to 500+ volts.
We're checking insulation resistance at operating conditions, not Hi-Pot testing for NRTL certifications.