"gregz" wrote in message
news:1093161559394683402.882372zekor-

stuff snipped

I installed arc fault breakers on two legs, which included both bedrooms.
This was old wiring. One leg would trip on occasion. I called that leg the
big mess, because if you saw it, that's what yo would call it. Most if
that
has been replaced, so far so good.

Yeah, I had a similar circuit in the basement that had been hacked into by
hack amateurs so many times that yanking it was the only thing to do. It
was the circuit that had speaker wire coming out of one junction box and
going into a flourescent shoplite without any strain relief. The wires went
right into a sharp-edged sheet metal hole that had already begun to saw
through the insulation. Yikes!

An arc fault breaker is not also a ground fault is it. Are there some ?

Good question. I seem to recall reading something about one, but I can't
recall whether it was an actual product or a prediction. I also came across
someone who's promoting a scheme whereby all outlets and all plugs have RFID
chips in them so they can communicate with each other and establish what the
normal current load should be. That would make it easier to detect way
out-of-bounds over-current draws, but the scheme sounds too complicated to
ever be adapted universally. If I find a combo AFCI/GFCI unit, I will let
you know. I suspect if it's available, it would only be in an outlet
form-factor.

--
Bobby G.