[RFI] Arc fault protection

[Jim Brown]

On 1/5/2013 9:40 AM, rick darwicki wrote:
> Typical government/committe expansion of what was originally a good idea (maybe).

Two important clarifications here. First, virtually all building codes 
in North America are based on NEC, which is written by a group of EEs 
from industry. It's a very good code. NEC is adopted by local 
governments as their Electrical building code, which gives it the force 
of law.  I don't know about you, but I consider building safety codes a 
VERY VERY good thing, and a very necessary function of government.  They 
make our buildings safer, so that they can withstand earthquakes, are 
less likely to burn, so that cables in them don't create noxious fumes 
when they burn, so that burning cables in vertical runs in high rises 
don't spread fires between floors in a large building (both of the last 
two things happened in the REAL "towering inferno, and causes those 
provisions to be added to NEC.

I can't comment on the virtues of Arc Fault Protection, since I don't 
know anything about it, nor the hardware failures that it is protecting 
against.  But I can tell you that GFCIs are a VERY good thing -- they 
protect people from electrocution in rooms where use of a faulty 
appliance could kill them -- that is, if a person touches the appliance 
and grounded plumbing.

73,

Jim K9YC