AFCI Help

Status
Not open for further replies.
George Stolz said:
Heard a question that stumped me.

Why would a vacuum cleaner trip an AFCI on the first receptacle on the circuit and no others?
Click to expand...


Wild and crazy guess:

The added impedance of longer circuit length mitigates the arc signature somehow.
 
peter d said:
Wild and crazy guess:

The added impedance of longer circuit length mitigates the arc signature somehow.
Click to expand...
No so wild and crazy. Matter of fact, that's probably the answer. Either that, or it's a bad backstab/screw terminal connection/loose blade contact at that particular receptacle that is creating or enhancing the arc signature.
 
As I heard it, the original AFCI breaker tripped on all receptacles for the vacuum.

Swapping for a newer AFCI limited it to the first outlet. When the AFCI was swapped, all connections were pigtailed/tightened and so forth. I hadn't thought of a loose blade contact.
 
Not to beat a dead horse, but has anyone meggered this vacuum (if 3-prong) and meggered the circuit? I'm here to tell you that this ferrets out a lot of these problems.
 
I'll take the back-stab for $100, and would like to buy a vowel.... IMO it could also be the outlet blades inside, or even induced current from the vacuum itself from the cable leaving the box. Why do I say this? Some Inspector came by a job, and saw that I had two 12/2's under the same set of staples (stacked) as allowed.... From the top plate all the way down to the outlet then back up to the top. And he said he recently came by a job that had issues due to that. He suspected that the long parallel length induced a slightly different current that the AFCI sensed and tripped - I've been thinking about it, and maybe if you had a really long feed and returned along the same path for a good length - it might be possible?????
 
mdshunk said:
Not to beat a dead horse, but has anyone meggered this vacuum (if 3-prong) and meggered the circuit? I'm here to tell you that this ferrets out a lot of these problems.
Click to expand...

I'd wager not - I think I probably have better toys than my buddy, and I don't own a megger yet. Key word, yet. :)

e57 said:
Why do I say this? Some Inspector came by a job, and saw that I had two 12/2's under the same set of staples (stacked) as allowed.... From the top plate all the way down to the outlet then back up to the top. And he said he recently came by a job that had issues due to that. He suspected that the long parallel length induced a slightly different current that the AFCI sensed and tripped - I've been thinking about it, and maybe if you had a really long feed and returned along the same path for a good length - it might be possible?????
Click to expand...
I'd like to pretend I get it, but I don't get it. :-?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top