Which circuits need afci

Now AFCI protection has been expanded to include and ampere branch circuits supplying outlets and devices installed in dwelling kitchens and laundry areas. Another change in Similarly, single phase and amp, volt receptacles installed to serve kitchen counters and in laundry rooms must also have GFCI protection and the device providing the GFCI protection must also be readily accessible.

This will ensure that all required protection is provided and that all devices requiring monthly testing will be readily accessible. Below is a preview of the NEC. GFCI breakers immediately break the circuit when electrical current leakage is being detected, reducing the risk of shock and electrocution.

GFCI receptacles will render itself inoperable if no GFCI protection is present and a red indicator light will blink notifying the user there is no power and the device must be replaced. The updated version of this reliable code echoes the evolution of the industry, resulting in several updates and four new articles related to the pressing issues of emergency disconnects, ground fault circuit interrupters, surge protection, arc energy reduction and more.

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All rights reserved. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc. Determine the structure type. If circuits are installed in a space for use other than a dwelling unit, AFCI is not required commercial and industrial spaces are not required to have AFCI protection.

Historically, electrical fires in branch circuit wiring accounted for nearly one third of the fires in dwellings in the USA. Identify voltage, current and circuit destinations. This means that nearly every habitable space in new homes, other than listed below, are required to have this protection. Any existing circuits that are modified, replaced or extended in or into those area are also required to have AFCI protection installed, if they extend it by more than six 6 feet or add an outlet or device.

Earlier homes generally must comply with the electrical code that was effective at the time of construction or remodels. Note similar requirements for receptacles in locations requiring GFCI protection. All volt, single-phase, and ampere branch circuits supplying outlets installed in dormitory unit bedrooms, living rooms, hallways, closets, bathrooms and similar rooms shall be protected" by AFCI devices. That means all double-pole or volt appliances such as: electric ranges, water heaters, clothes dryers, permanently installed electric heaters baseboard and blower types , artesian well pumps, etc.

Note that if a "permanently installed electric heater" is supplied by volts on a or Amp circuit, it would not be exempt from AFCI protection, under this rule. Circuits supplying less than volts e. Determine if a location or type-specific exemption applies. Absent from the list of spaces that require AFCI protection are: bathrooms, outdoors, unfinished basements, crawl spaces, attics and garage spaces, to name a few.

Kitchens and laundry areas of manufactured or mobile homes are no longer exempt. Additional AFCI considerations apply to solar-power systems and power-grid interconnection systems. An exception for AFCI may apply where permitted by code, such as when using certain metallic wiring methods. Locally adopted codes may differ.

Choose a method of providing protection. AFCI protection is provided by either an AFCI circuit breaker installed at the electrical panel, or by a receptacle specifically identified as providing arc fault protection. Both the circuit breaker and receptacle are installed similar to the GFCI circuit breakers and receptacles that are present in many homes already. The circuit breaker method protects the entire circuit, while the receptacle protects only from the point of installation on the circuit, to the end of the circuit.

Some appliances are also required to have their own integral AFCI or GFCI protection, including air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, water coolers and beverage dispensers. The pipe, armored cable, metal box, etc. Add AFCI protection voluntarily. Existing installations are not required to upgrade to AFCI protection. Replace all existing single pole 15 and 20 amp circuit breakers and any double pole 15 and 20 amp circuit breakers that supply circuits with shared neutrals that provide two volt circuits , or replace the first receptacle on a circuit to an AFCI type to add this protection.

Use AFCI circuit breakers to add arc fault protection to the entire length of existing circuits. This is simply a matter of locating the circuit's hot wires black, red or blue that are connected to the circuit breaker and the circuit's neutral white wire and replacing the circuit breaker in the panel with the AFCI type. The hot and neutral circuit wires will all connect directly to the AFCI circuit breaker, and protects the entire circuit from arc faults.

Use AFCI receptacles to provide protection to the circuit only from the point at which the receptacle is installed. Depending on wiring methods used during construction, this method may not satisfy the requirements of the code.

The AFCI receptacles were much more popular prior to code, when this protection was required only in bedrooms. Since then, the code expanded the requirement to include significantly more locations in the dwelling, it seems that manufacturers have begun to produce the circuit breaker instead. As a result, AFCI receptacles may be more difficult to obtain.

I read an article that said smoke and co2 detectors should not be on an arc circuit.