lighting on the arc fault breaker?

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eric21309

Member
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?
 

jwjrw

Senior Member
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.
 

al hildenbrand

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
Occupation
Electrical Contractor, Electrical Consultant, Electrical Engineer
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.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
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.
 

jxofaltrds

Inspector Mike®
Location
Mike P. Columbus Ohio
Occupation
ESI, PI, RBO
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.

Bath fans are exempt.
 

hotwire1955

Senior Member
Location
nj
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.

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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