Mr.electric
Member
- Location
- Minneapolis
does anyone know how to tell if a appliance or piece of equipment has been tested to meet requirements for AFCI,s and nuisence tripping.
AFCI standards for appliances and equipment.
- Thread starter Mr.electric
- Start date
- Status
hbiss
EC, New York NEC: 2017
- Location
- Little Falls, New York NEC: 2017
- Occupation
- EC
I think you have it backwards. AFCIs are supposed to meet the requirements of equipment connected to them and not nuisance trip.
Requiring equipment to be tested and certified to work with AFCIs was somebody's fantasy and fodder for internet rumors.
-Hal
Requiring equipment to be tested and certified to work with AFCIs was somebody's fantasy and fodder for internet rumors.
-Hal
winnie
Senior Member
- Location
- Springfield, MA, USA
- Occupation
- Electric motor research
While I am dubious about the benefits of AFCIs, it really has to be a two way street; both the AFCI and the connected equipment have to adjust to work together.
GFCI protection is now reliable and a true safety improvement. However many appliances (particularly refrigeration equipment) was designed with acceptable leakage levels that would trip GFCIs. Not a safety problem as long as you had reliable grounding...with the advent of GFCI requirements the equipment also had to change.
To answer the OP I know of no equipment that has been modified to work better with AFCIs, but have not looked for such.
-Jon
GFCI protection is now reliable and a true safety improvement. However many appliances (particularly refrigeration equipment) was designed with acceptable leakage levels that would trip GFCIs. Not a safety problem as long as you had reliable grounding...with the advent of GFCI requirements the equipment also had to change.
To answer the OP I know of no equipment that has been modified to work better with AFCIs, but have not looked for such.
-Jon
curt swartz
Senior Member
- Location
- San Jose, CA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
There is no standard for AFCI's. Every manufacture uses their own secret algorithms and will adjust/change them over time. The appliance/equipment manufactures have no idea exactly what the breaker is looking for to trigger a trip.
I have said all along the breaker manufactures should be responsible for supporting AFCI issues. If a customer has issues the breaker manufacture should send a tech to troubleshoot. If the issue is found to be a wiring issue the customer pays for the service call and is responsible for getting electrician to fix. If the issue is the appliance and breaker not getting along then the breaker manufacture needs to design a replacement breaker that works or pay appliance manufacture to redesign appliance so it works.
I have said all along the breaker manufactures should be responsible for supporting AFCI issues. If a customer has issues the breaker manufacture should send a tech to troubleshoot. If the issue is found to be a wiring issue the customer pays for the service call and is responsible for getting electrician to fix. If the issue is the appliance and breaker not getting along then the breaker manufacture needs to design a replacement breaker that works or pay appliance manufacture to redesign appliance so it works.
- Status