"Gerald Newton" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Oct 10, 4:28 pm, wrote:
On Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:00:35 -0000, Jerry

wrote:
CPSC, Schneider Electric North American Division Announce Recall of
AFCIs
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
announces the following recall in voluntary cooperation with the firms
below. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately
unless otherwise instructed.

Name of product: Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters (AFCI)

Units: About 700,000

Manufacturer: Schneider Electric North American Division, of Palatine,
Ill.

This is 3 years old but I do wonder how many they have actually
recovered. If it is 40% I would be "shocked".

I was unfamilar with this recall until you brought it up in a previous
post. Absolutely nothing was said about this at the NW IAEI Section
meeting that I attended in Anchorage during the first week of
September.
With 700,000 units out there, it is a real problem as you explained in
your post. I am creating my 2008 NEC Change course and have been on
this AFCI thing for three days.
It is interesting to note that at the Sq D site they explain that they
are working with vacuum cleaner manufacturers to insure their products
do not trip afci's.
Can anyone imagine how many new products are going to have to go
through this same evaluation. I suppose that we can expect increased
costs for the evaluation of an electrical product to insure that it
will not trip an AFCI. Is this going to part of the listing
requirement for new products or does anyone have a handle on this at
all? It looks like a bucket of worms to me. I just talked to an
electrician in Hawaii that told me that some types of computer
monitors are tripping afci's.

I had a "home inspector" call me and get me involved in this when he
thought he had found them in a house. Turned out he had the wrong vintage,
and they were O.K. I spoke to my Sq-D rep and they said they would be
surprised if many were left "out there" and that Sq-D had really done a
thorough job on it. Anyway, the info is about 3-4 years old. That is why it
wasn't a topic at your meeting.