AFCI room requirement?

[mltech]

Is there an AFCI room requirement, where you would have to have a seperate afci for every circuit for every room?
What if you had a shared lighting circuit?
Thanks in advance.

 

[kwired]

Is there an AFCI room requirement, where you would have to have a seperate afci for every circuit for every room?
What if you had a shared lighting circuit?
Thanks in advance.

210.12 tells where AFCI protection is required.

Other areas of NEC will tell when a separate branch circuit is required or when multiple loads may or may not be on the same branch circuit.

For example in a kitchen you will have the required small appliance branch circuits but may also have other circuits that can't be served by the SABC's. All of them still required to be AFCI protected in 210.12 simply because the kitchen is one of the rooms mentioned in 210.12.

Similar concept will apply in determining whether or not GFCI is required at a particular outlet.

 

[d0nut]

AFCI protection is required for circuits serving outlets or devices in the areas listed, not just for receptacle outlets. The lighting outlets in those spaces would require AFCI protection whether they are on separate circuits or shared circuits with the receptacle outlets.

 

[mltech]

210.12 tells where AFCI protection is required.

Other areas of NEC will tell when a separate branch circuit is required or when multiple loads may or may not be on the same branch circuit.

For example in a kitchen you will have the required small appliance branch circuits but may also have other circuits that can't be served by the SABC's. All of them still required to be AFCI protected in 210.12 simply because the kitchen is one of the rooms mentioned in 210.12.

Similar concept will apply in determining whether or not GFCI is required at a particular outlet.

Had another contractor state that we couldn't use a single circuit for lighting in a residence due to the AFCI requirement that every room had to have its own afci protection. I understand individual circuits i.e. Kitchens, garages, bathrooms, etc.. I have a small home and have all my LED lights on 1 circuit? Barely reaching 600 watts so why not have 1 circuit for lights?

 

[infinity]

Had another contractor state that we couldn't use a single circuit for lighting in a residence due to the AFCI requirement that every room had to have its own afci protection. I understand individual circuits i.e. Kitchens, garages, bathrooms, etc.. I have a small home and have all my LED lights on 1 circuit? Barely reaching 600 watts so why not have 1 circuit for lights?

That contractor is incorrect.

 

[d0nut]

Had another contractor state that we couldn't use a single circuit for lighting in a residence due to the AFCI requirement that every room had to have its own afci protection. I understand individual circuits i.e. Kitchens, garages, bathrooms, etc.. I have a small home and have all my LED lights on 1 circuit? Barely reaching 600 watts so why not have 1 circuit for lights?

That contractor is mistaken. The requirement is for AFCI protection for the branch circuit serving the outlets, not for each space individually. If there is an outlet or device in one of the spaces listed, the circuit serving it needs AFCI protection. There are a few different ways to provide that protection listed in 210.12.

 

[kwired]

outlets required/permitted on particular branch circuits is completely separate requirement from what requires AFCI protection.

You need to consider those things separately, first determine what you can or must put on an particular circuit then based on what areas are served determine if you also must provide AFCI protection.

A living room general purpose circuit for example has no restrictions on supplying outlets in a bedroom or even outside outlets. The bedroom is one those rooms that requires AFCI just like the living room. The outdoor outlets do not require AFCI, however if they are on with something inside that does- they inherently are going to end up AFCI protected anyway.

A circuit supplying outlets not requiring AFCI but having a switch in an area that does require AFCI however (in more recent editions of NEC) must still have AFCI protection. One example would be an exterior light on circuit that only supplies exterior lights, maybe garage lights or other non AFCI areas but has a switch in a living room would require AFCI because of that switch location.