It (AFCI) will provide some protection but nothing's perfect.

K&T is usually not too hard to replace since it is usually installed in
accessible areas and the old wire can be used to pull new cable where it is
not. Remember the new wire doesn't need to follow the old route at all and
some of those fixtures can be tied to other existing branches. Hardest part
is retrofitting the j boxes if there were none.



wrote in message
oups.com...
"There are many homes dating back to the 1920's that still have
knob-and-tube that has outlasted subsequent wiring technology, such as
BX with rubber insulated conductors and early forms of romex. Do AFCI
breakers protect existing knob-and-tube wiring systems?

An AFCI circuit breaker will trip and clear the circuit when a
line-to-neutral arc occurs (often caused by the melting of the
conductor insulation at loose terminals) within three to eight
half-cycles, whereas a standard circuit breaker might not open for many
hundreds of half-cycles. Note: If the AFCI is dual listed as a GFCI,
the two wire receptacle can be replaced with three-wire receptacles and
no equipment grounding conductor is required to be run to the
receptacles [406.3(D)(3)]."

http://www.mikeholt.com/mojonewsarch...s~20030301.htm


wrote:
Ah so perhaps the electrician was talking about AFCIs or a combination
of both? I'll know more tomorrow but thanks for that link!

buffalobill wrote:
see AFCI info Consumer Product Safety Commission
Preventing Home Fires: Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters (AFCIs) at:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/afci.html