Greetings. "Long time listener, first time caller."
Schneider has set an end-of-service date of November 30, 2021 for the Square D QO215CAFI and QO220CAFI, their 2-pole 120/240V Combo AFCI breakers (link at bottom of post), which as far as I know are their only AFCI solution for multi-wire (shared neutral) branch circuits. Their single-pole 120V CAFIs (like the QO120CAFI) are specifically not approved for MWBCs, presumably because they use neutral current sensing as an input to their arc detection logic. When I saw that these were being discontinued, I assumed Schneider must have something in the pipeline like the GE THQL1120AF2, which is a single-pole 120V CAFI that as of Mod 3 no longer does any sensing on the neutral, so it can be used on circuits where the neutral is landed on the bus bar, or combined in pairs with a handle tie for shared neutral applications. But my local distributor wasn't able to find anything, and I wasn't able to find the right virtual door to knock on at Schneider to find out anything either.
I know that MWBCs may be going the way of the plug fuse, but there still are a lot of them out there, and a lot of QO panels out there, so it seems surprising that Schneider would pull their only retrofit solution for AFCI on MWBCs with no replacement. You'd think a single-pole load-sensing-only combo AFI like the GE part, in pigtail and plug-on-neutral versions, would sell enough units at a high enough price to be worth building. Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone here has heard anything about a replacement, or alternative, in the works. Thank you!
www.se.com
Schneider has set an end-of-service date of November 30, 2021 for the Square D QO215CAFI and QO220CAFI, their 2-pole 120/240V Combo AFCI breakers (link at bottom of post), which as far as I know are their only AFCI solution for multi-wire (shared neutral) branch circuits. Their single-pole 120V CAFIs (like the QO120CAFI) are specifically not approved for MWBCs, presumably because they use neutral current sensing as an input to their arc detection logic. When I saw that these were being discontinued, I assumed Schneider must have something in the pipeline like the GE THQL1120AF2, which is a single-pole 120V CAFI that as of Mod 3 no longer does any sensing on the neutral, so it can be used on circuits where the neutral is landed on the bus bar, or combined in pairs with a handle tie for shared neutral applications. But my local distributor wasn't able to find anything, and I wasn't able to find the right virtual door to knock on at Schneider to find out anything either.
I know that MWBCs may be going the way of the plug fuse, but there still are a lot of them out there, and a lot of QO panels out there, so it seems surprising that Schneider would pull their only retrofit solution for AFCI on MWBCs with no replacement. You'd think a single-pole load-sensing-only combo AFI like the GE part, in pigtail and plug-on-neutral versions, would sell enough units at a high enough price to be worth building. Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone here has heard anything about a replacement, or alternative, in the works. Thank you!
QO220CAFI - Mini circuit breaker, QO, 20A, 2 pole, 120/240VAC, 10kA, combo arc fault, pigtail, plug in mount | Schneider Electric USA
Schneider Electric USA. QO220CAFI - Mini circuit breaker, QO, 20A, 2 pole, 120/240VAC, 10kA, combo arc fault, pigtail, plug in mount.
www.se.com
