Checking for ARC Faults

[sfav8r]

We have a request from the insurance company on one of our clients buildings. The are asking for some specific tests of the electrical system one of which reads "Check for Arc Faults/Ground faults." I'm not aware of any such tests. I guess we could install AFCI breakers as a test, but that obviously would only tell us there was nothing wrong at that moment. Any guesses as to what they might be looking for? A call to their office was useless as the only person we could speak to just "reads what the main office says." and can't elaborate. For some added humor, I will type verbatim what another of their requests reads. This is the actual wording from the underwriters report. "Checking resistance on circuits - an indicator of something that is bottling up the current, which could make an overcurrent more likely"

 

[cowboyjwc]

You mean such as what would happen if they had their head up their................?

 

[480sparky]

"Checked for Arc Faults / Ground Faults".

Either you found them, or you didn't.

 

[ptonsparky]

We have a request from the insurance company on one of our clients buildings. The are asking for some specific tests of the electrical system one of which reads "Check for Arc Faults/Ground faults." I'm not aware of any such tests. I guess we could install AFCI breakers as a test, but that obviously would only tell us there was nothing wrong at that moment. Any guesses as to what they might be looking for? A call to their office was useless as the only person we could speak to just "reads what the main office says." and can't elaborate. For some added humor, I will type verbatim what another of their requests reads. This is the actual wording from the underwriters report. "Checking resistance on circuits - an indicator of something that is bottling up the current, which could make an overcurrent more likely"

Well dang, here I thought unbottling the current and allowing it to run rampant was the cause of overcurrent. Shucks, gonna hafta starts over on my learning.

 

[GoldDigger]

Well dang, here I thought unbottling the current and allowing it to run rampant was the cause of overcurrent. Shucks, gonna hafta starts over on my learning.

Well, in some circumstances bottling up the current to a motor can drop the voltage, causing the motor to swig more current from the bottle and overheat. :angel: