My house (which is just about 1 year old; moved in August 2004) had
AFCIs.

Tons of nuisance trips, especially when powering off an inductive load
(ceiling fan). Code requires them for all the bedrooms.

I talked to the Siemens rep at a trade show (I do industrial electrical
controls). He hemmed & hawed & suggested I take it back for a new one.

I talked to some electricians (house wiring folks; not plant (factory)
electricians), and the general consensus is that they're worthless due
to nuisance trips.

They've been required in receptacles since Jan1, 2002. They're
required in bedrooms only, and they're intended to protect against
fires started by arcing (short to ground).

Some background on why and when these are required:
From the consumer products safety commission:
http://www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/FOIA/FOIA03/os/ecafci.pdf

And, from underwriters laboratories:
http://www.ul.com/regulators/ode/0504.pdf

I suggest you look into the risks and make an informed decision for
yourself.

Personally, I believe that in my house, my decision supersedes code
requirements. It's my house, dammit. I reviewed the risks, and
evaluated the nuisance costs to my wife and myself, and then removed
them and installed regular breakers.




Zean Smith wrote:
My house which is 1.5 years old has been having problem with the Siemens
AFCI Fuse. According to the builder, this fuse is installed on 2nd floor
for bedrooms for some reasons. The AFCI part of the fuse always get tripped
after power interruption by local hydro company. I had to manually went to
basement to reset it.

This AFCI is so stupid and annoying. It has been raining these days these
days and it almost got tripped once a week! Never had any problem usually in
sunny days because there is no power interruption.

1. Is it possible to replace it with the regular Fuse? I am really sick of
this. Will that violate the electrical code??
2. This is so annoying that I even tried to unplug computers, light fixture
but didn't help, still got same problem. Any other suggestions?
3. Should get another AFCI Fuse? maybe the one I have is defected??

Help....