[TowerTalk] Arcfault Breakers

[Doug Christensen]

Better junk from. China? ?

On Sun, Mar 19, 2023, 8:26 AM Shane Youhouse <kd6vxi at gmail.com> wrote:

> Electrician here.  Dealt with AFCI and GFCI issues in my own house.
>
> 1.  It's not marketing BS to require your brand of breakers in your brand
> of panel.  That's just stupid.  You really want manufacturer A to go
> through every single breaker design, current rating, single, split and poly
> phaser, to ensure that they don't make got spits in the buss bar, etc?  I
> didn't think so.
>
> Hint, using the wrong brand breaker in a panel WILL increase fire hazard
> due to hot spots where the breaker comes into contact with the backplane.
> Nice replaced panels in home fires where this happened.  Anyone telling you
> different is a blowhard.
>
> The only brand breaker rated and designed for multiple brand usage in
> different panels is Eaton.  They actually went to far as to attain UL
> approval for other brands of panels and their breakers.
>
> 2.  Siemens pretty much has owned every technology out there at one time or
> another.  That doesn't snt make them universal in the eyes of NEC.
>
> 3.  AFCI breakers.  Yes, they do stop fires.  A simple Google search will
> show who the blowhard spouting off at the mouth are. For instance, the CPSC
> here in the USA has one study that shows almost 50 percent of fires in
> residences can be eliminated with AFCI.
>
> Early ones sucked!!!  I ended up yanking all of them out of my house.  That
> was Square D branded breakers.  Required when the home was torn down to
> foundation on remodel.
>
> Eventually I found breakers, as others have mentuon d, that fixes the
> issue.
>
> Thank GOD Eaton had them certified with UL for Square D panels!
>
> After replacement, no more issues.
>
> 4.  I used homebrew open wire line at my station.  Johnson flashbox fed,
> legal limit.  I installed every single GFCI I could find, one by on, behind
> the open wire line, until I found one that didn't trip.  It was a leviton
> branded one.   I then used them throughout the garage / shop and everywhere
> code needed in the house.
>
> Hope this helps.  Yes, as the homeowner you can yank out all those pesky
> AFCI breakers after inspection.
>
> And then, 10 years later if there is a fire, and an inspection on record
> that would indicate AFCI where installed and when the fire happened they
> where not.....
>
>
> You're screwed.
>
> Much better to actually be safe, do the homework and find units that work
> in rf environments and not do any half assed BS because a blowhard on the
> internet flapped his arms around about nanny states and other jibberish.
>  Seriously.  80 years ago we had knob and tube wiring, fuss in the neutral
> line, etc.  I've even run across wiring like that, in use, in Bakersfield
> in the last 10 years!  Must be safe, huh?
>
> --Shane
> WP2ASS / ex KD6VXI
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