Bought a Siemens AFCI breaker off fleaBay for the bedroom circuit,
installed it last night. All appears to be well, except when turned on,
there's a faint audible buzzing coming from the breaker. Is this normal?

thanks,

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

Nate Nagel wrote:

Bought a Siemens AFCI breaker off fleaBay for the bedroom circuit,
installed it last night. All appears to be well, except when turned on,
there's a faint audible buzzing coming from the breaker. Is this normal?

thanks,

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

Probably, my Square D QO AFCIs make a noticeable whine rather like a
switching power supply which is probably what it is.

Pete C.

On Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:45:06 -0500, Nate Nagel
wrote:

Bought a Siemens AFCI breaker off fleaBay for the bedroom circuit,
installed it last night. All appears to be well, except when turned on,
there's a faint audible buzzing coming from the breaker. Is this normal?

thanks,

nate


IMHO, questions that come to mind:

1. Are you a qualified person for working on service panel, if not
get one.
2. Are the contact surfaces clean, undamaged, and in full contact?

Some AFCI's I've installed have a 'electric' hum. Which can be made
very loud depending on the panel's 'solidness'. If the service panal
is loose, might want to make sure that is fixed as well.

Tell us what you decide on doing...

later,

tom @ www.Consolidated-Loans.info

Tom The Great wrote:
On Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:45:06 -0500, Nate Nagel
wrote:


Bought a Siemens AFCI breaker off fleaBay for the bedroom circuit,
installed it last night. All appears to be well, except when turned on,
there's a faint audible buzzing coming from the breaker. Is this normal?

thanks,

nate



IMHO, questions that come to mind:

1. Are you a qualified person for working on service panel, if not
get one.

If by that you mean do I have the necessary skills, tools, and
intelligence to install a circuit breaker without making a dog's
breakfast of it, then yes. If you are asking am I officially a master
electrician, then no. But I'm not about to pay someone for a job so simple.

2. Are the contact surfaces clean, undamaged, and in full contact?


yes, they do all appear to be so.

Some AFCI's I've installed have a 'electric' hum. Which can be made
very loud depending on the panel's 'solidness'. If the service panal
is loose, might want to make sure that is fixed as well.


It's definitely not loud, just audible. I didn't know if it was normal
for them to make any noise at all, as all other breakers I've installed
are dead silent except when they're actually tripping. But it appears
that this is normal from the responses I've received so I won't worry
any more about it. It just seemed like a good idea to add it since a)
it's cheap and easy and oh, yeah, required by code now and b) the
circuit that serves the question is mostly 60 year old wire, so any
extra protection is probably a Good Thing.

I still haven't started running my ground wires yet to the two original
receptacle circuits still existing, but I may get started tonight if
SWMBO feels up to working the fish tape. What a fun way to spend a
Friday evening, but I would like to start setting up bookshelves etc. at
some point in the near future.

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

CALL A PRIEST! You are in danger of the eternal....

Oh, wait, it's a breaker. Nevermind.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Nate Nagel" wrote in message
...
Bought a Siemens AFCI breaker off fleaBay for the bedroom circuit,
installed it last night. All appears to be well, except when turned
on,
there's a faint audible buzzing coming from the breaker. Is this
normal?

thanks,

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

On Fri, 03 Nov 2006 17:37:59 -0500, Nate Nagel
wrote:

Tom The Great wrote:
On Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:45:06 -0500, Nate Nagel
wrote:


Bought a Siemens AFCI breaker off fleaBay for the bedroom circuit,
installed it last night. All appears to be well, except when turned on,
there's a faint audible buzzing coming from the breaker. Is this normal?

thanks,

nate



IMHO, questions that come to mind:

1. Are you a qualified person for working on service panel, if not
get one.

If by that you mean do I have the necessary skills, tools, and
intelligence to install a circuit breaker without making a dog's
breakfast of it, then yes. If you are asking am I officially a master
electrician, then no. But I'm not about to pay someone for a job so simple.

2. Are the contact surfaces clean, undamaged, and in full contact?


yes, they do all appear to be so.

Some AFCI's I've installed have a 'electric' hum. Which can be made
very loud depending on the panel's 'solidness'. If the service panal
is loose, might want to make sure that is fixed as well.


It's definitely not loud, just audible. I didn't know if it was normal
for them to make any noise at all, as all other breakers I've installed
are dead silent except when they're actually tripping. But it appears
that this is normal from the responses I've received so I won't worry
any more about it. It just seemed like a good idea to add it since a)
it's cheap and easy and oh, yeah, required by code now and b) the
circuit that serves the question is mostly 60 year old wire, so any
extra protection is probably a Good Thing.

I still haven't started running my ground wires yet to the two original
receptacle circuits still existing, but I may get started tonight if
SWMBO feels up to working the fish tape. What a fun way to spend a
Friday evening, but I would like to start setting up bookshelves etc. at
some point in the near future.

nate


Oh I agree with installing AFCI. My house was build in 1993, so none
were installed when I moved in. So far all the bedrooms are covered,
and as money becomes available, guess that depends on the results of
Nov 7th, I will be purchasing more to protect other areas of my house.

Did you have to lenthen the 'neutrals' and if so, how did you do it?

later,

tom @ www.NoCostAds.com

Nate Nagel writes:
Bought a Siemens AFCI breaker off fleaBay for the bedroom circuit,
installed it last night. All appears to be well, except when turned
on, there's a faint audible buzzing coming from the breaker. Is this
normal?

thanks,

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

Haven't had any buzzing with Leviton brand. So either bad device or
bad brand/model

Nate Nagel wrote:
Bought a Siemens AFCI breaker off fleaBay for the bedroom circuit,
installed it last night. All appears to be well, except when turned on,
there's a faint audible buzzing coming from the breaker. Is this normal?

thanks,

nate

Hi,
Something loose internally or xternally.

Tom The Great wrote:
On Fri, 03 Nov 2006 17:37:59 -0500, Nate Nagel
wrote:

Tom The Great wrote:
On Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:45:06 -0500, Nate Nagel
wrote:


Bought a Siemens AFCI breaker off fleaBay for the bedroom circuit,
installed it last night. All appears to be well, except when turned on,
there's a faint audible buzzing coming from the breaker. Is this normal?

thanks,

nate



IMHO, questions that come to mind:

1. Are you a qualified person for working on service panel, if not
get one.

If by that you mean do I have the necessary skills, tools, and
intelligence to install a circuit breaker without making a dog's
breakfast of it, then yes. If you are asking am I officially a master
electrician, then no. But I'm not about to pay someone for a job so simple.

2. Are the contact surfaces clean, undamaged, and in full contact?


yes, they do all appear to be so.

Some AFCI's I've installed have a 'electric' hum. Which can be made
very loud depending on the panel's 'solidness'. If the service panal
is loose, might want to make sure that is fixed as well.


It's definitely not loud, just audible. I didn't know if it was normal
for them to make any noise at all, as all other breakers I've installed
are dead silent except when they're actually tripping. But it appears
that this is normal from the responses I've received so I won't worry
any more about it. It just seemed like a good idea to add it since a)
it's cheap and easy and oh, yeah, required by code now and b) the
circuit that serves the question is mostly 60 year old wire, so any
extra protection is probably a Good Thing.

I still haven't started running my ground wires yet to the two original
receptacle circuits still existing, but I may get started tonight if
SWMBO feels up to working the fish tape. What a fun way to spend a
Friday evening, but I would like to start setting up bookshelves etc. at
some point in the near future.

nate


Oh I agree with installing AFCI. My house was build in 1993, so none
were installed when I moved in. So far all the bedrooms are covered,
and as money becomes available, guess that depends on the results of
Nov 7th, I will be purchasing more to protect other areas of my house.

Did you have to lenthen the 'neutrals' and if so, how did you do it?


Nope, the neutrals were landed on terminal strips that lined up with
the breakers so there wasn't much moving about to be done. Had I had
to do so I would probably have just used a wire nut unless there's a
better method for doing this.

nate

Nate Nagel wrote:

Bought a Siemens AFCI breaker off fleaBay for the bedroom circuit,
installed it last night. All appears to be well, except when turned on,
there's a faint audible buzzing coming from the breaker. Is this normal?

thanks,

nate

Hi,
Something loose internally or externally. Or verloaded.