Arc Fault Circuit Breaker Tripping

After having been slowly phased in over the past 3 nec code cycles these new arc fault breakers are now required on almost every 120v circuit in the finished space of the house.

Arc fault circuit breaker tripping.

You may even recognize these arc fault circuit interrupter breakers with their visible test button in your circuit breaker panel. Because afci s are designed to detect an arc fault they can be very sensitive and easily tripped for a few common reasons including. With afci circuit breakers this improper wiring will cause the breaker to trip. If this same device trips a different afci circuit breaker it s the result of incompatibility between the electronic device and the afci breaker or possibly a major problem with the device.

Afcis are designed to sense an arc which is an electrical leak caused when a hot wire touches a neutral or ground but doesn t trigger the circuit breaker. Arc fault circuit interrupters are prone to nuisance tripping which is probably what you re experiencing. Afci breakers tripping for no obvious reason is known as nuisance tripping. Another wiring problem is more of an incompatibility issue than a wiring issue and it has to do with multi wire.

Afci circuit breaker troubleshooting.