lighting on the arc fault breaker?

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eric21309

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i do mostly commercial work but run into residential every so often, and the code is always changing on the arch fault breakers. So my question is do you put bed room lighting on an arch fault and if so can you put bed room plugs and lighting on the same circuit?
 
The bedroom lights and receptacles must both be on arc fault breakers. As well as smoke detectors too. I always use the same circuit for all three.
 
Welcome to the Forum.

The requirement for AFCI is for all the outlets that are 15 and 20 Amp 125 Volt that are in the areas or rooms listed in 210.12. So, a 125 V window AC or a 125 V baseboard heater also get AFCI when they are 20 A or less, hard wired or not.
 
From the 2008:

210.12 Arc-Fault Circuit-Interrupter Protection.
(B) Dwelling Units. All 120-volt, single phase, 15- and 20-ampere branch circuits supplying outlets installed in dwelling unit family rooms, dining rooms, living rooms, parlors, libraries, dens, bedrooms, sunrooms, recreation rooms, closets, hallways, or similar rooms or areas shall be protected by a listed arc-fault circuit interrupter, combination-type, installed to provide protection of the branch circuit.



From the definitions:

Outlet. A point on the wiring system at which current is
taken to supply utilization equipment.



This means all pretty much all the lights, ceiling fans, smoke detectors, bath fans, etc. must be AFCI'd.
 
480sparky said:
From the 2008:

210.12 Arc-Fault Circuit-Interrupter Protection.
(B) Dwelling Units. All 120-volt, single phase, 15- and 20-ampere branch circuits supplying outlets installed in dwelling unit family rooms, dining rooms, living rooms, parlors, libraries, dens, bedrooms, sunrooms, recreation rooms, closets, hallways, or similar rooms or areas shall be protected by a listed arc-fault circuit interrupter, combination-type, installed to provide protection of the branch circuit.



From the definitions:

Outlet. A point on the wiring system at which current is
taken to supply utilization equipment.



This means all pretty much all the lights, ceiling fans, smoke detectors, bath fans, etc. must be AFCI'd.
Click to expand...

Bath fans are exempt.
 
480sparky said:
Makes no difference.... an outlet is an outlet. We're not talking about receptacles here, we're talking about outlets.


jxofaltrds is right, simply because bathrooms are not listed in 210-12.
Click to expand...

If the bathroom fan and or lights are wired from a branch circuit that is also used for circuits other then the bathroom it needs AFCI protection.
 
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