Arc fault Circuit Breakers Questions
 

Hello:

Anyone replacing circuit breakers in their "older" homes
with these new arc-fault types ?

Any problems with inadvertent tripping, etc. ?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

B.

Greetings,

I have replaced many standard breakers many with arc-fault breakers -- but
it is normally when I am removing knob and tube wiring and replacing it with
romex. If the old wire is romex I would not expect a problem. If the old
wire is knob and tube I would suggest replacement. If you do have an arcing
it should be corrected.

Hope this helps,
William


"Robert11" wrote in message
...
Hello:

Anyone replacing circuit breakers in their "older" homes
with these new arc-fault types ?

Any problems with inadvertent tripping, etc. ?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

B.

"Robert11" wrote in message
...
Hello:

Anyone replacing circuit breakers in their "older" homes
with these new arc-fault types ?

Any problems with inadvertent tripping, etc. ?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

B.

arc faults are required in bedrooms only with new constuction. My home was
made in 1999 and does not have them nor would I spend the money to put them
in.

On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 17:25:34 -0700, "SQLit"
wrote:


"Robert11" wrote in message
...
Hello:

Anyone replacing circuit breakers in their "older" homes
with these new arc-fault types ?

Any problems with inadvertent tripping, etc. ?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

B.

arc faults are required in bedrooms only with new constuction. My home was
made in 1999 and does not have them nor would I spend the money to put them
in.



Can you explain why?

I mean, my house was built in 93, and I plane in the future to replace
most of my bkrs with afci's. So, since I haven't committed the money
yet, I am still evaluating information about the breakers.


later,


tom @ www.Love-Calculators.com

Because they have deminished/questionable value and most new homes in canada
only have one arc fault circuit which protects the bedrooms due to high
levels of combustable contents (ie clothing).
FYI cutler hammer has been producingnothing but residential arc fault type
of breakers for 20 years and where did it get them? Nowhere.
I would suspect that the number of bedroom fires caused by arc faulting in
the entire world amounts to a handfull a year. This is marketing based on
paranoia, not need.
wrote in message
...
On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 17:25:34 -0700, "SQLit"
wrote:


"Robert11" wrote in message
...
Hello:

Anyone replacing circuit breakers in their "older" homes
with these new arc-fault types ?

Any problems with inadvertent tripping, etc. ?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

B.

arc faults are required in bedrooms only with new constuction. My home
was
made in 1999 and does not have them nor would I spend the money to put
them
in.



Can you explain why?

I mean, my house was built in 93, and I plane in the future to replace
most of my bkrs with afci's. So, since I haven't committed the money
yet, I am still evaluating information about the breakers.


later,


tom @ www.Love-Calculators.com

Besides the cost, I think they might take up more room in your breaker
box, just like GFCI breakers. That could be a problem for some.

Greetings,

AFCI's reduce the chances of you and your family burning alive in a fire.
That said they are probably still not worth the extra expense. I don't
think AFCI's should be required (even in new construction) but no one asked
me. You have to draw the line somewhere.

Hope this helps,
William

wrote in message
...
On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 17:25:34 -0700, "SQLit"
wrote:


"Robert11" wrote in message
...
Hello:

Anyone replacing circuit breakers in their "older" homes
with these new arc-fault types ?

Any problems with inadvertent tripping, etc. ?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

B.

arc faults are required in bedrooms only with new constuction. My home
was
made in 1999 and does not have them nor would I spend the money to put
them
in.



Can you explain why?

I mean, my house was built in 93, and I plane in the future to replace
most of my bkrs with afci's. So, since I haven't committed the money
yet, I am still evaluating information about the breakers.


later,


tom @ www.Love-Calculators.com

On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 23:39:08 -0500, "NoSpamFANatic"
wrote:

Because they have deminished/questionable value and most new homes in canada
only have one arc fault circuit which protects the bedrooms due to high
levels of combustable contents (ie clothing).

I think it's not the combustable contents that warrent the need, since
my basement grossly beats out most of all my bedrooms. :-P

But your later comment about paranoia, might be very accruate why the
bedrooms and no where else. But I have a funny feeling that they are
the rooms we spend 1/3 of our lives in and have no heavy switchable
loads like the kitchen or bathrooms. So limiations on the breaker's
false positives might cause the oppsite thinking, not to be required
in all bedrooms, but to be requered in all rooms, but limited to only
bedrooms. That make sense?

FYI cutler hammer has been producingnothing but residential arc fault type
of breakers for 20 years and where did it get them? Nowhere.
I would suspect that the number of bedroom fires caused by arc faulting in
the entire world amounts to a handfull a year. This is marketing based on
paranoia, not need.

Not saying you are wrong about the afci's effectivness, but the
'handful' is very questionable. I've seen insurance agencies come up
with many, many fires that were electrical in origin. Now how many
were from overloaded circuits, verse damaged conductors arcing, I
haven't found a reliable source for that. But..... If you can spend
120 bucks on these breakers, and you later find one saved your house
from going up in flames, pretty cheap cost for saving your house.

Side note: I replaced all my 10 year old ac wired smoke detectors with
new ones, and battery backup versions. No one told me to do so, but
from what I know, it was a good thing. Was it worth the money? I
hope to never find out. Just like if I retro my house with afci's.

BTW, thanks for your reply, more information I get, better decision I
can make with the afci's.


later,




tom @ www.ChopURL.com





wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 17:25:34 -0700, "SQLit"
wrote:


"Robert11" wrote in message
...
Hello:

Anyone replacing circuit breakers in their "older" homes
with these new arc-fault types ?

Any problems with inadvertent tripping, etc. ?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

B.

arc faults are required in bedrooms only with new constuction. My home
was
made in 1999 and does not have them nor would I spend the money to put
them
in.



Can you explain why?

I mean, my house was built in 93, and I plane in the future to replace
most of my bkrs with afci's. So, since I haven't committed the money
yet, I am still evaluating information about the breakers.


later,


tom @ www.Love-Calculators.com

On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 08:46:21 -0500, "William Deans"
wrote:

Greetings,

AFCI's reduce the chances of you and your family burning alive in a fire.

Now everyone goes to the extreme. Having about 3 smoke detectors per
person in my house, the likely hood of buring alive is minimal.
But..... the chances of being homeless after a fire is good, and even
having to repair/replace broken water/smoke damaged items and ripped
open walls is more likely in a fire.

So, the extreme is very unlikely, even in fact based statistics, but
preventing the start of fire(fires are more commmon, than fire's with
fatalities), it seems that afci's are cheap.

Still working this out in my head, I haven't commited to it, cause
even gfci's are vastly improved today compared to when they came out.
So, maybe waiting is better.....

later,

tom @ www.URLBee.com



That said they are probably still not worth the extra expense. I don't
think AFCI's should be required (even in new construction) but no one asked
me. You have to draw the line somewhere.

Hope this helps,
William

wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 17:25:34 -0700, "SQLit"
wrote:


"Robert11" wrote in message
...
Hello:

Anyone replacing circuit breakers in their "older" homes
with these new arc-fault types ?

Any problems with inadvertent tripping, etc. ?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

B.

arc faults are required in bedrooms only with new constuction. My home
was
made in 1999 and does not have them nor would I spend the money to put
them
in.



Can you explain why?

I mean, my house was built in 93, and I plane in the future to replace
most of my bkrs with afci's. So, since I haven't committed the money
yet, I am still evaluating information about the breakers.


later,


tom @ www.Love-Calculators.com

wrote:
On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 08:46:21 -0500, "William Deans"

wrote:

Greetings,

AFCI's reduce the chances of you and your family burning alive in a
fire.

Now everyone goes to the extreme. Having about 3 smoke detectors per
person in my house, the likely hood of buring alive is minimal.
But..... the chances of being homeless after a fire is good, and even
having to repair/replace broken water/smoke damaged items and ripped
open walls is more likely in a fire.

[...]
even gfci's are vastly improved today compared to when they came out.
So, maybe waiting is better.....

later,

tom @ www.URLBee.com

At least GFCIs and AFCIs don't beep at you when you make toast.

Hmmm, I'm having an idea: let's put the mandatory wired smoke alarms on
the mandatory GFCI-protected circuits. When they sound a false alarm,
you spray them with your mandatory fire extinguisher, the circuit gets
soaked and the GFCI trips. Then it's quiet and you go back to bed!

Chip C

On 10 Feb 2005 09:38:22 -0800, "Chip C" wrote:

wrote:
On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 08:46:21 -0500, "William Deans"

wrote:

Greetings,

AFCI's reduce the chances of you and your family burning alive in a
fire.

Now everyone goes to the extreme. Having about 3 smoke detectors per
person in my house, the likely hood of buring alive is minimal.
But..... the chances of being homeless after a fire is good, and even
having to repair/replace broken water/smoke damaged items and ripped
open walls is more likely in a fire.

[...]
even gfci's are vastly improved today compared to when they came out.
So, maybe waiting is better.....

later,

tom @ www.URLBee.com

At least GFCIs and AFCIs don't beep at you when you make toast.

Hmmm, I'm having an idea: let's put the mandatory wired smoke alarms on
the mandatory GFCI-protected circuits. When they sound a false alarm,
you spray them with your mandatory fire extinguisher, the circuit gets
soaked and the GFCI trips. Then it's quiet and you go back to bed!

Chip C


Tisk, Tisk, you know wired smoke alarms aren't to be on gfci circuits.

:-P

The real point is that if you live in a single family
dwelling that is relatively modern, the chance of fire is
extremely small. If you don't smoke in bed (or elsewhere)
and you use reasonable sense about lights and extension
cords, your chance of fire is practically nil. The biggest
danger is your children, so if you are really interested in
not having a fire, get rid of that child (especially boy
child). Well, that's a little extreme, however, it is true
that most of the fires in the above mentioned condition are
caused by children playing with matches or lighters and pets
chewing on cords or knocking down hot appliances.


wrote:
On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 08:46:21 -0500, "William Deans"
wrote:


Greetings,

AFCI's reduce the chances of you and your family burning alive in a fire.


Now everyone goes to the extreme. Having about 3 smoke detectors per
person in my house, the likely hood of buring alive is minimal.
But..... the chances of being homeless after a fire is good, and even
having to repair/replace broken water/smoke damaged items and ripped
open walls is more likely in a fire.

So, the extreme is very unlikely, even in fact based statistics, but
preventing the start of fire(fires are more commmon, than fire's with
fatalities), it seems that afci's are cheap.

Still working this out in my head, I haven't commited to it, cause
even gfci's are vastly improved today compared to when they came out.
So, maybe waiting is better.....

later,

tom @ www.URLBee.com




That said they are probably still not worth the extra expense. I don't
think AFCI's should be required (even in new construction) but no one asked
me. You have to draw the line somewhere.

Hope this helps,
William

wrote in message
. ..

On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 17:25:34 -0700, "SQLit"
wrote:


"Robert11" wrote in message
...

Hello:

Anyone replacing circuit breakers in their "older" homes
with these new arc-fault types ?

Any problems with inadvertent tripping, etc. ?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

B.

arc faults are required in bedrooms only with new constuction. My home

was

made in 1999 and does not have them nor would I spend the money to put

them

in.



Can you explain why?

I mean, my house was built in 93, and I plane in the future to replace
most of my bkrs with afci's. So, since I haven't committed the money
yet, I am still evaluating information about the breakers.


later,


tom @ www.Love-Calculators.com