Replacing a GFIC circuit breaker with a normal one

[mbl]

I am in a 3 year old house and one of my GFI circuit breakers failed last night. I was not sure what was going on, but Xcel actually sent a guy out last night to confirm that the CB has failed.

These GFI CB's have been a pain in my butt since moving in. I am interested in replacing it with a regular one. The Xcel guy actually recommended the same thing.

I have replaced CB's and added new circuits before, so I am comfortable in the box. When I looked at it today, the GFI CB has 2 white and a single black. My question is what do I do with the two whites? Can I just disconnect them from the neutral buss bar and pull them out with the old CB? It seems pretty straight forward, am I over simplifying it?

Thanks for any input anyone can provide.

[jslo]

You talking ground fault (wet areas) or arc fault (bedrooms)?

[mbl]

This CB controls a bedroom circuit. Not a wet area at all.

[eneranch]

Have you tried to troubleshoot the circuit & find out what is causing the AFCI to trip? Is it affecting Lights or Receptacles?

[jslo]

That's a gonna be an arc fault. I'm a general not an electrician but my guy tells me they have made them less sensitive, then they were, to tripping. He won't swap them out to standard breakers for liability issues but for my own place I'd not hesitate to get rid of them. But then again my kids are grown and gone. Hopefully one of the electricians on here will chime in.

[rockhound]

hmmm, not sure why a house that new would have a GFCI breaker on a dry circuit. does it not attach to an outside outlet somewhere? does it run the garage outlet? even inside this should be protected.

The change over is fairly straight forward if you are familiar with breaker box wiring at all. but be sure there not a reason to have it protected.

the difference in the wiring is that the load positive and the load neutral are both connected to the breaker. and the nuetral is connected with a pigtail to the neutral bar, you should be able to place the load neutral wire on the nuetral bar and your load positive to the breaker like a normal breaker.



please be sure to check and make sure that you dont have a potentially wet outlet/switch somewhere on that circuit. be sure to use the proper gauge wire and breaker combo, 14g - 15 amp 12g -20 amp


i was also a general, i have done many projects from start to finish and i am not giving any type of professional advice, proceed at you own risk.

[sandman76]

It's an AFCI not a GFCI. Supposed to be there not a regular breaker. I'm an electrician and I'm glad that my house (2000) was not required to have these things. I sleep like a baby. AFCI requirements are the biggest hoax foisted on the electrical trade ever. The technology was not ready for prime time and still is not. IMO / YMMV and all that BS. Oh, you might have a real problem causing the tripping and you should have someone look at that before just changing the breaker.

[jslo]

I had one (a clients home) that appears to have been caused by the push in quick connectors for recessed cans. Electrician cut all the connectors off and replaced with wire nuts.

[mbl]

Thanks for everyone's input. As sandman correctly stated the CB in question is a AFCI, not GFI as I originally stated. The Xcel guy and others have told me that these things go bad all the time. He was pretty confident that it had gone bad as he said he has seen the symptoms frequently.

I will take a look tomorrow again at the wiring inside the box and make sure what was described above makes sense. If it does not, I will probably just try my luck with a newer one.

Thanks again.

[rbeau30]

I'm adding this to the excuses for coming into work late.

Sorry Boss! My Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter in my breaker box went bad and my bedroom electricity went out. But code requires it!