Gerald Newton wrote:
On Oct 11, 11:03 am, Gerald Newton
wrote:

The more I research the AFCI circuit breakers the more evident it
becomes that more R&R should have been done.

Apparently, these devices are being forced into homes by new rules in
the 2008 NEC while they have not been fully evaluated.
The future decisions now require that either the manufacturers develop
only those products that have waveforms in the set of waveforms
accepted by AFCI's or the AFCI's be reprogrammed to any new waveform
signatures that new products may have

I am seriously thinking about writing a letter to the State of Alaska
suggesting to not adopt the 2008 NEC without and exception to
210.12(B).


In addition to the expansion of locations where AFCIs are required in
the 2008 NEC, the 2005 NEC requires "Combination AFCIs" to be used after
1-1-08. AFCIs are now required detect arcs at a 75A level and will
detect parallel arcs. The new "Combination AFCIs" are required to
detect arcs at a 5A level and will detect series arcs. As far as I know
there are no "Combination AFCIs" on the market now only 2.5 months
before they are required to be used. So a far more sensitive AFCI will
be required in many more locations without field experience. If you
think it is bad now....

IMHO, the expansion of AFCIs to many more locations in the 2008 NEC
should have been based on the track record of the AFICs previously
installed for bedrooms. It wasn't.

--
bud--