afci question

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jetlag

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Eatonton, Georgia
I want to be sure I understand the code. My county has not adopted the 2008 code yet on afci, but it is required on bedroom circuits. The code says the bedroom outlets must be afci protected including outlets used for lighting. I assume that to mean a wall outlet that is controlled by a wall switch and not the ceiling lighting outlet.
 
jetlag said:
I want to be sure I understand the code. My county has not adopted the 2008 code yet on afci, but it is required on bedroom circuits. The code says the bedroom outlets must be afci protected including outlets used for lighting. I assume that to mean a wall outlet that is controlled by a wall switch and not the ceiling lighting outlet.
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All lighting outlets must be AFCI protected.
 
peter d said:
All lighting outlets must be AFCI protected.
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Well I thought thats the way it should be . You can get an arc in the ceiling connection just like any where else but I would have thought they would have called that a lighting outlet instead of an outlet used for lighting. That made it sound like a switch controlled recept.
 
look up the definition of "outlet" in the code book. Article 100.
 
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But not necessarily the switches. For instance, if a switch installed in a bedroom controls an exterior flood light then that swiych does not need afci.
 
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Jim W in Tampa said:
Its all the outlets.Thats receptacles,light fixtures and smoke detector
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Are you sure about the smoke alarm ? The instruction included with the alarm on two I installed this week said to install on a 120 v circuit not protected by gfci or afci.
 
jetlag said:
The instruction included with the alarm on two I installed this week said to install on a 120 v circuit not protected by gfci or afci.
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I'm not psychic, but I think I can safely say that you're wrong. It didn't say that at all.
 
jetlag said:
Are you sure about the smoke alarm ? The instruction included with the alarm on two I installed this week said to install on a 120 v circuit not protected by gfci or afci.
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Why should they not work on afci ? Now your local ahj might change that because it does put them at risk of not working if circuit trips and battery is dead.But they are an outlet.I would suggest putting them on with master bedroom so a triped circuit is noticed faster.
 
electricalperson said:
before afci's were required we learned to feed them from a lighting circuit
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By the NEC, they could be fed from an individual branch circuit so long as it's AFCI protected. Some local codes don't allow that however.
 
peter d said:
By the NEC, they could be fed from an individual branch circuit so long as it's AFCI protected. Some local codes don't allow that however.
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Yes they could but why would you want to ? Poor choice as how will you know if it trips and bat are dead
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
Yes they could but why would you want to ? Poor choice as how will you know if it trips and bat are dead
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Jim, are we back to these 1st grade level arguments again? There might be a perfectly good reason to feed them from an individual branch circuit, and if the batteries go dead then the alarms go "chirp" and the people replace them.
 
mdshunk said:
I'm not psychic, but I think I can safely say that you're wrong. It didn't say that at all.
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That may well be ,.. but I have often wondered why these instructions , from a popular brand where I am, make a reference to article 760 of the Nec... I even sent an E-mail to Mark Ode after reading an article he had written which clearly stated that these single and multiple station smoke alarms were installed on branch circuits and are subject to article 210.12 ,and not 760.121.
Anyone interested can read the instructions HERE if you would like ,.. He told me it was a mistake and that he would get in touch with the manufacturer to let them know,.. I do not think there has been a change in the instructions.
 
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