AFCI's and tripping

[tonymazz]

So as a home inspector licensed in the state of Wisconsin I have a fundamental question.

What should we advise our clients in reference to a AFCI and if it's tripped. Assuming that the AFCI is detecting an arc, by simply resetting it aren't you reintroducing the current, thereby possibly recreating the arc...and possibility of a fire ?
So that said, do we tell clients to contact a licensed electrician there may be a fault ?

That would be expensive don't you think ? Are the devices reliable at this stage of the game ?

Your thoughts ?

Thanks....

Mike

 

[bphgravity]

Re: AFCI's and tripping

Anytime a protection device operates to open a circuit, careful considerations need to be made regardless if it is a AFCI, GFCI, or a plain old circuit breaker.

If the user/homeowner is unable to determine the exact cause of the tripping condition, a licensed professional needs to be called in. In some cases, the condition or event is obvious and needs no further attention, but in the case of a mysterious trip with no rhyme or reason, to side with caution is best.

Expensive you say? $70 service call verses loosing everything from a fire. The math is easy.

 

[templdl]

Re: AFCI's and tripping

Ditto with regard to the above. A qualified person should be consulted. The result of a sight survey may be a simple a a grounding wire coming into contact with the grounded neutral which often results in the AFCI sensing a ground fault because some of the neutral current is being shared by the grounding conductor. If the electrician is not conscientious in folding the conductor back in the box when installing a duplex outlet that bar EGC can easily come into contact with the neutral screw.

 

[tom baker]

Re: AFCI's and tripping

I suspect most tripping AFCI's are due to neutral to ground shorts or contacts, as the AFCI has a 30 or 50 ma GFCI circuit to detect low level faults.

You may want to invest in a AFCI tester, about $150 to $200.

If the breaker trips there is a fault. Breakers and AFCI's are very reliable. Testing with a load is necessary to find neutral to ground faults. Also the AFCI tester actually creates the 75 amp arc fault.