ARC Fault Breakers. Your Experiences.

[grsthegreat]

On customs they all got dedicated refer circuits. Not on track homes. Contractors would not pay for them. Most current refers take very little power anyways.

 

[PILOON]

I did my own home electrical installation, monitored and signed off by an electrical contractor.
Only GFI was in bathrooms and none outdoors.
GFI during a snow event would trip the tractor heater circuit.*
My kitchen has 6 outlets + fridge all outlets split so 12 breakers and all on 12 gauge wire.
Wife can plug in whatever where ever and never blow a breaker.

Wired my garage/shop the same way, sub panel, 12 gauge everywhere with lighting on separate circuit all outlets at waist height for easier access.

*OK, not up to code as per recent updates but my tractor always starts, I did get caught years back with GFI
When I built the $ diff between 12 and 14 gauge was minimal, not like today's copper prices.

Couple weeks back I needed to replace a 100 ft run to my water pump, ouch almost needed a bank loan, oddly 12 was same price as 14 (direct bury wire) naturally I used 12.

LOL, recently my welder switch shorted out (phew, the smell) and it proved out my circuit protection and I was not left in dark either.

 

[Industrial Toys]

If it's possible to trip these ARC breakers with an arc from another circuit, it is possible that it only does so when this circuit has a load, as in fridge running or my lights on.

Breakers come with the neutral wire coiled up. Does this have any significance?

 

[grsthegreat]

If it's possible to trip these ARC breakers with an arc from another circuit, it is possible that it only does so when this circuit has a load, as in fridge running or my lights on.

Breakers come with the neutral wire coiled up. Does this have any significance?

not supposed to be affected by other circuits.... but who knows. Coiled wire means nothing. Just more of a mess when you load up your panel. Most new panels use neutral plug on busses so the gfci and arc fault breakers dont have the white wire anymore.
Im seeing so many weird phenomenon lately with arc faults and leds. Only seem to happen on the arc faulted circuits. Someone turns on bedroom lights and bathroom leds flicker. Both rooms fed off of same arc fault breaker. Usually involves a dimmer somewheres on circuit. At times if you swap out 1 single led lamp with standard incandescent, it goes away. Other times it does not. But if you remove arc fault breaker and install regular breaker.....no issues.

Have seen it numerous times, different brand breakers. I am stumped.

 

[ponytug]

Yes, LEDs all, well almost all, have power supply circuits with power factors much less than one, which make it look from the outside like power is disappearing from the wire. I suspect that the odd power factor can cause trouble with things like arc fault breakers. I have seen such a range of power supply circuits that I think it would be hard to generalize. For the same reason, as a pure guess I can imagine that the refrigerator / oven combination may be a refrigerator control board aging. Dimmers have more circuitry that can mess with the quality of the AC.

Perhaps buy a different brand of LED? Different dimmer? Add an AC line filter to the circuit?

I imagine variable frequency motor controllers must be hard on arc fault breakers as well, but I have no experience with the combination.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ultrarunner]

Is the cure worse than the problem in that it causes unforeseen problems?

Never lived in a home with Arc Fault Breakers or GFCI breakers... heck most homes where I have lived were knob and tube with Edison fuses and no grounds

 

[grsthegreat]

Is the cure worse than the problem in that it causes unforeseen problems?

Never lived in a home with Arc Fault Breakers or GFCI breakers... heck most homes where I have lived were knob and tube with Edison fuses and no grounds

Did they have indoors plumbing....or was that considered uppity:cool2:

My parents house had neither and they lived there nearly 50 years....and survived. Amazing.errr, that is to say gfci or arc fault, they did have plumbing

 

[ultrarunner]

1920's Craftsman Bungalows with Bay Windows, Built-Ins, etc. or Mediteranien.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have never been one to suggest that I know what I'm doing or know the answer. People do have more confidence in a BSer. (always remember the "SURGE") I would hate to be an electrician trying to sort out an ARC Fault issue for a customer.

Thanks for the heads-up on the new neutral buss bar panels. Yet another thing I would find myself staring at, not knowing what I was looking at. Are they downward compatible with old conventional breakers?

 

[grsthegreat]

I have never been one to suggest that I know what I'm doing or know the answer. People do have more confidence in a BSer. (always remember the "SURGE") I would hate to be an electrician trying to sort out an ARC Fault issue for a customer.

Thanks for the heads-up on the new neutral buss bar panels. Yet another thing I would find myself staring at, not knowing what I was looking at. Are they downward compatible with old conventional breakers?

The new panels will still accept the older breakers, as they still have screws. But the arcfault and gfci breakers without the white wire are cheaper than ones with wires. On houses that require EVERY circuit that isnt gfci’d to be arc fault protected, the panels get to be a real eyesore with all the extra wires. A 40 space panel is so full of wires you can hardly trace anything.

That being said, older style panels cannot accept the newer style breakers that dont have the white wire.