AFCI In Utility Room?

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mkgrady

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I installed a general purpose receptacle in a utility room in a home. The receptacle is a GFCI type. Downstream of this receptacle I fed an outdoor receptacle.

The utility room contains the heating system, water heater, main panel, etc. It's also where all the communication cables come together. It also contains a modem and that is what the receptacle is for. The room has finished walls, ceilings and floor.

I did not Arcfault protect the circuit because I don't think it is needed. I'm asking because every other circuit in the panel that powers a 15 or 20 amp outlet is AFCI protected including some other things in the utility room. Is there something about this that requires the circuit be AFCI protected?
 
It's a matter of interpretation...
210.12 said:
(A) Dwelling Units. All 120-volt, single-phase, 15- and
20-ampere branch circuits supplying outlets or devices installed
in dwelling unit kitchens, family rooms, dining
rooms, living rooms, parlors, libraries, dens, bedrooms,
sunrooms, recreation rooms, closets, hallways, laundry areas,
or similar rooms or areas shall be protected...
Click to expand...

I interpret the requirement to mean living spaces, i.e. not general storage or utility.
 
Smart $ said:
I interpret the requirement to mean living spaces, i.e. not general storage or utility.
Click to expand...

I agree. Branch circuits that supply only spaces or locations not named in 210.12(A) may have non-AFCI overcurrent protection.
 
The utility room seems similar to a closet to me. You don't live in a closet. You store stuff there. Closets require AFCI.
 
Coppersmith said:
The utility room seems similar to a closet to me. You don't live in a closet. You store stuff there. Closets require AFCI.
Click to expand...

I see it differently. Utility rooms contain mechanical systems. Many of the systems produce heat and sometimes flames. Contrast that with a closet. A closet contains things that are flammable but are not meant to be near things that get hot.
 
Coppersmith said:
The utility room seems similar to a closet to me. You don't live in a closet. You store stuff there. Closets require AFCI.
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Is an attic similar to a closet?

While closets are commonly used for general storage, their original intent (IMO) was to store garments, shoes, hats, outerwear, etc.
 
Smart $ said:
Is an attic similar to a closet? While closets are commonly used for general storage, their original intent (IMO) was to store garments, shoes, hats, outerwear, etc.
Click to expand...

Smart $ said:
I didn't think you would. I was asking Coppersmith. ;)
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I don't think unfinished attics especially one's requiring a pull down ladder are like closets and would not require AFCIs.

A finished attic space may be very similar to a closet. Around here it is not uncommon to have a normal door in an upstairs room open into a attic space with a plywood floor the assumption being it is for storage. I saw one today that had a plywood floor and was fully insulated. It looked very much like a closet. Whether an inspector would see it that way in terms of the AFCI requirement, I don't know.

If you pulled the drywall off the studs in an upstairs bedroom, you would be making more attic space.
 
mkgrady said:
I don't think an attic is similar to any of the listed rooms or areas.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Some maybe are, some aren't.

mkgrady said:
I installed a general purpose receptacle in a utility room in a home. The receptacle is a GFCI type. Downstream of this receptacle I fed an outdoor receptacle.

The utility room contains the heating system, water heater, main panel, etc. It's also where all the communication cables come together. It also contains a modem and that is what the receptacle is for. The room has finished walls, ceilings and floor.

I did not Arcfault protect the circuit because I don't think it is needed. I'm asking because every other circuit in the panel that powers a 15 or 20 amp outlet is AFCI protected including some other things in the utility room. Is there something about this that requires the circuit be AFCI protected?
Click to expand...

Circuits that supply only bathroom, garage, outdoor, or unfinished basement or other "non living space" areas don't need AFCI protection. However if same circuit does supply outlets or devices in the rooms mentioned in 210.12 - then they still will end up having AFCI protection. Example outside light with switch inside a room covered in 210.12, or outside receptacle that was run off same circuit supplying the living room both will end up with AFCI protection because portions of the circuit required AFCI.
 
mkgrady said:
A utility room is certainly a "non living space"
Click to expand...

:happyyes:

Unless the area is in a part of a building traditionally associated with, or does/will contain the customary provisions for, a living area, it is not a living area.

You don't see many people washing dishes, cooking, sleeping in or hanging their clothes in a water heater closet. (although if the dryer goes out, hanging clothes in a small gas wh closet makes a good temp clothes dryer:D)
 
Using "living" vs. "non-living" helps a person colloquially to side step quoting verbatim the list of areas and rooms in 210.12(A), but it is not a Code defined term.

And "closets" being "non-living" really is no help at all as Closets ARE in the list in 210.12(A).

Here's the real rub. "Closet" is still not a NEC defined term . . . and it is the term used in the rule 210.12(A).

Only "Clothes Closet" is defined in NEC Article 100.

The local jurisdiction meaning of "Closet" is an AHJ call, in my opinion.

Personally, a furnace or a water heater inside a small finished space behind an operable door is mechanical room, not a closet. An unheated attic space, no matter how "finished" is Storage, not closet.
 
Think of closet as being a living space adjunct... or not.

Closet off foyer... yes or no?

Closet in utility room... yes or no?


AHJ call on either?
 
JDB3 said:
by the 2014 NEC, laundry area receptacles "require" AFCI protection
Click to expand...
And note it is the laundry "area" and not "room"

If the laundry "area" is in an unfinished basement or garage, then you must at least put the laundry receptacle(s) on an AFCI, whether or not you must have at least one luminaire and call it "laundry lighting" on an AFCI I don't think it is all that clear.

I think the requirement for AFCI in those two examples is nonsense, (let alone the fact I don't really think current AFCI technology is the right solution anyway) but that is what it says.
 
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