Afci’s tripped

[Judicator]

Hey all,
Last night my area had a nasty lightning storm. I fell asleep at 9pm, woke up to no power and wondering why my generator didn’t kick on. I found that ALL my afci’s were tripped.
Pretty much what I’m asking is: Has anyone run into this? I never have and scratching my head some. thehouse is 1year old.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I have heard of this but have not experienced it. Is your transfer switch an separately derived system?

 

[hillbilly1]

I have a couple that do that during a storm, they are the older with the gf protection. Have seen the same with gfi receptacles. Probably surge protection in appliances and electronics causing enough leakage to ground to cause it.

 

[mbrooke]

I had a nasty storm yesterday as well with multiple cloud to ground lightning strikes. One came down very close to my house which set off the smoke detectors for a second.


My guess is it has something to do with the EMF, ie a compass will spin during a lightning strike.

 

[mbrooke]

I have a couple that do that during a storm, they are the older with the gf protection. Have seen the same with gfi receptacles. Probably surge protection in appliances and electronics causing enough leakage to ground to cause it.

Could be that, along with Xc-1/2pifc. Lightning is an exceptionally fast rising wave, so it will push a lot of current through a capacitor which is all wiring basically.

 

[Judicator]

I have heard of this but have not experienced it. Is your transfer switch an separately derived system?

My transfer switch is between the meter and panel. Neutral and ground are bonded there and separate at the panel.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

What I was getting at was whether the transfer switch breaks the neutral or is the neutral tied in to the service neutral. My understanding if the transfer switch breaks the neutral it is a separately derived system and then the issue with afci's aren't a problem. I don't have first hand knowledge of this.

 

[Judicator]

What I was getting at was whether the transfer switch breaks the neutral or is the neutral tied in to the service neutral. My understanding if the transfer switch breaks the neutral it is a separately derived system and then the issue with afci's aren't a problem. I don't have first hand knowledge of this.

Got ya bud. No, the Briggs and Stratton transfer switch does not break the neutral.