Arc Circuit Protection
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In recent years a new type of breaker has been on
the market, and that is an arc protected circuit breaker, I suspect if
not already that an outlet will be developed that incorporates arc
protection, however an arc protected circuit breaker will give
protection to an entire circuit not just part of it. In recent years a
lot of electrical codes are now requiring arc protection for circuit
that serve bedrooms, and the requirements may eventually be expanded.
Arcing generates heat - sparks from arcing
can ignite materials near an outlet, cause damage to an outlet.
Electrical arcing is never a good thing, and can cause fires.
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An AFCI is just a added piece of mind protection device
that hopefully will stop a fire or tragedy, but is not a substitute to
fixing poor wiring, damaged outlets, improper use of extension cords and
so on, fix the problem, never reply on technology to save you.
They are also suppose to be able to detect what is a
normal arcing condition caused by switching on a light or plugging in a
cord into an outlet, and only trigger the breaker when not normal
arcing and / or short conditions are detected.
Unless your jurisdiction requires it, I would not
recommend using it on such items as a freezer, fridge, furnace, sump
pump, these all have motors in them and these items could cause great
damage to goods or property if they where to false trigger the arc
breaker.
Bellow is some videos that I found posted on 'you
tube' regarding the installation of an arc fault circuit interrupter....
(if using IE 10 and the embedded videos do not run
[or just show as black blocks] try switching the compatibility mode on
the browser) Also if you click on 'You Tube
Direct LINK' bellow each embed video it
will open in a new window / tab on 'you tube'.
Written: Jan. 14, 2012
Revised: June 18, 2013 Proof Read / Released: July 9, 2013
Diagrams redrawn with Transparency: Jan. 5, 2014
By: Donald Kerr
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