AFCIs

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Can someone explain what arcs the AFCIs are intended to protect against, in a bedroom ?

And, how is this impemented? Are new outlets in the bedroom wall required, or is it a new-style of breaker in the panel ?

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Dave T

[electric-ed]

Dave,
Statistics indicate that more residential fires originate in the bedroom than any other room. The authorities believe that appliances (and extension cords) plugged into receptacles are at fault.

The AFCI is an advanced type of circuit breaker similar to a GFCI. They have electronic circuitry that can recognize the unique "signature" of arcing at a loose connection anywhere in the circuit, including the appliance or it's cord. This dangerous arcing is different in waveform than the arcing that occurs when you screw in a lightbulb with the power on, for instance. They are designed to detect both series and parallel arcing. Series arcing does not result in an increase in current, so a fuse or breaker does not see it as a fault.
A GFCI will only trip on a fault to ground, so it looks like we need this new technology.

Click this link for some diagrams relating to this topic. http://www.electric-ed.com/images/Afci.gif

Electric Ed



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I found another, less-technical explanation at :http://www.arcfault.com/set_hazards.htm

Thanks Ed.

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Dave T