In my daughters remodel job on her home in Colorado I put all new Square D panels with Arc-fault/GFIC breakers, now she is having issues with them tripping. I don't know if they are over sensitive or something is wrong in the wiring. In her utility room where the panel is located there is the washer and dryer. She did about 3 or 4 loads of wash and then the breaker tripped. Now on the other side of the wall that washer is located are plumbing for the shower in another room. Do you think since the wiring and receptacle for washer is located in the same cavity as the plumbing that this could be causing the tripping?
Arc-fault/GFIC squareD breakers
- Thread starter guschash
- Start date
- Status
romex jockey
Senior Member
- Location
- Vermont
- Occupation
- electrician
How old are the appliances?
~RJ~
~RJ~
growler
Senior Member
- Location
- Atlanta,GA
If the plumbing is leaking it could cause a problem. I'm only half joking. I have been on jobs where professional plumbers have left some pretty good leaks (shoddy work).
I would probably try just swapping out the breakers to start with because that's the easiest thing to do.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Start by finding out if they are tripping on AFCI or GFCI function, or even on standard thermal-mag function. All newer (QO and Homeline) have test feature built in that tells you what last trip condition was. Turn breaker off, hold test button when turning on, how long it takes to trip tells you what the conditon was.
instant trip (within one second) means it was a ground fault
if it trips in two seconds - it was an arc fault
if it trips in five seconds - the test only lasts five seconds - it means there was no AFCI or GFCI fault and any trip would have been from thermal magnetic function.
link to those instructions
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
Being in the same cavity should not cause a problem. Leaks that bad should be pretty obvious.
The QO should be showing a trip code.
Turn CB Off.
Press and hold the purple TEST button.
Move Handle to ON
Trip in:
1 sec = Ground Fault
2 sec = Arc Fault
5 sec = Thermal OL or short circuit.
This is on page three of the Instruction Bulletin enclosed in the packaging of the CB
eta: I'm too slow
The QO should be showing a trip code.
Turn CB Off.
Press and hold the purple TEST button.
Move Handle to ON
Trip in:
1 sec = Ground Fault
2 sec = Arc Fault
5 sec = Thermal OL or short circuit.
This is on page three of the Instruction Bulletin enclosed in the packaging of the CB
eta: I'm too slow
Colin Mac
New member
- Location
- Glenford, NY.
Arc Fault Breaker/Shared neutral circuits
Arc Fault Breaker/Shared neutral circuits
Having installed a Square D Homeline panel with the neutral bar suitable for their new breakers i've discovered I can't share the neutral wire in the kitchen circuit, where i ran a three wire plus ground to the kitchen and split to two circuits there. Do I have to run two new two wire cables or is there a fix?
Arc Fault Breaker/Shared neutral circuits
Having installed a Square D Homeline panel with the neutral bar suitable for their new breakers i've discovered I can't share the neutral wire in the kitchen circuit, where i ran a three wire plus ground to the kitchen and split to two circuits there. Do I have to run two new two wire cables or is there a fix?
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
If they make a dp gfci/afci you will be okay. YOu need a dp breaker to make that work with a multiwire branch circuit. Advice-- don't run multiwire branch circuit's
ramsy
NoFixNoPay Electric
- Location
- LA basin, CA
- Occupation
- Service Electrician 2020 NEC
With existing homeruns "Replacement Code" allows A/GFCI Outlets that work fine with MWBC's.
New MWBC's work fine with 1-pole GE AFCI's, and home-runs don't require GFCI.
Only if all Outlet & GE AFCI's are avoided, must 2-pole AFCI's be used for MWBC's.
peter d
Senior Member
- Location
- New England
I've had to troubleshoot numerous nuisance tripping issues with Square D AFCI's (Homeline) when I worked for a contractor that did all residential new construction. They are very sensitive for some reason and especially susceptible to unknown tripping from the AFCI portion, all caused by large and small appliances. I refuse to use Square D products now because of it.
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
Not sure what you are saying here. The post that I quoted says he ran the hr's with a multiwire branch circmultiwire branch circuit
I understand that ge is able to use 2 sp afci's with a multiwire branch circuit and a breaker tie as I use ge all the time.
It seems to me that the member I quoted was given the correct info since he used a 3 wire circuit and sq. d. :?
ramsy
NoFixNoPay Electric
- Location
- LA basin, CA
- Occupation
- Service Electrician 2020 NEC
Op never touched home runs, but let SQ-D Panel Flipper put new GFCI breakers in there.:jawdrop:
No need for GFCI breakers.:slaphead:
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- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
romex jockey
Senior Member
- Location
- Vermont
- Occupation
- electrician
ramsy
NoFixNoPay Electric
- Location
- LA basin, CA
- Occupation
- Service Electrician 2020 NEC
How many licensed electricians is that, who don't know what their doing?
Is it just SQ-D Panel Flippers that don't get Multi-Wire circuits?:dunce:
Or, is it exclusive Panel Flipping in general that never see wiring inside buildings?
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