AFCI over 12/3 cable MWBC (Small Appliance Outlets when AFCI in Panel Not Possible)

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brycenesbitt

Senior Member
Location
United States
I need to supply two 20A outlets for a 24" countertop in a retrofit Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit a (JADU). The City insisted.
The main panel is an evil Federal Pacific Stab Loc, and it can't be changed at this time, and there are no AFCI breakers available.

What would you recommend as a cable layout?
scan AFCI MWBC.jpg


Is it risky to put combination AFCI/GFCI's at the ends of 12/3 MC cable? If so why, what could go wrong?

Are newer AFCI's MWBC friendly?

AFCI on MWBC

Hi everyone, I have been using GE's fancy single pole AFCI breakers tied together on MWBC for sometime now on upgrading existing MWBC. I’m confused on a couple of things here and thanks in advance for reading my rambling questions.... 1. What kind of sorcery is occurring in the GE...
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ramsy

Roger Ruhle dba NoFixNoPay
Location
LA basin, CA
Occupation
Service Electrician 2020 NEC
SQARE-D 1-pole AFCI Breakers were made for FPE Stab-Lok. No AFCI by UBI or Connecticut-Electric replacement junk.

A member on this forum has a surplus. You can search here and contact him.

For the 12/3 branch feeders, if no 2-Pole's were made by SQ-D, you may need outlet device resets, perhaps even dual function devices for some rooms, depending on the code cycle adopted.
 
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brycenesbitt

Senior Member
Location
United States
Drawing 2 is a small subpanel with AFCI's. It just seems like more hassle than Drawing #1.

Is it then OK to go with 12/3 NM cable, or 12/3 MC, to the two outlets for the Junior ADU kitchen?
Those will be dedicated, so nothing more than that.

Is there a current problem with AFCI's and 12/3 cable in a Multiwire Branch Circuit setup?
 
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brycenesbitt

Senior Member
Location
United States
Would drawing #2, with the AFCI in a subpanel and 12/3 NM wire to the countertops be OK?
I'd rather put the GFCI's at the countertop on the notion that it's easier to reset them.
In this case the main panel is not so accessible.

Though, frankly I see more false tripping on AFCI then GFCI events.
 
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wwhitney

Senior Member
Location
Berkeley, CA
Occupation
Retired
curt swartz said:
The Schneider Stab-Lok AF breakers are Branch Circuit/Feeder NOT Combination that has been required by the NEC since 2008.
Click to expand...
But FWIW, the section on AFCIs does include some provisions for using the older AFCI type breaker at the panel and a combination-type AFCI receptacle at the first outlet. So that's an option when combination-type AFCI breakers are not available for the panel.

Cheers, Wayne
 
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ramsy

Roger Ruhle dba NoFixNoPay
Location
LA basin, CA
Occupation
Service Electrician 2020 NEC
wwhitney said:
But FWIW, the section on AFCIs does include some provisions for using the older AFCI type breaker at the panel and a combination-type AFCI receptacle at the first outlet. So that's an option when combination-type AFCI breakers are not available for the panel.

Cheers, Wayne
Click to expand...
Yes, I see NEC 210.12(A)(2)
Thanks for schooling us on this.
 
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