Replacing a GFIC circuit breaker with a normal one

[Wulf202]

I despise arc fault.

[NFATrustGuy]

I had to install arc fault breakers in my basement when I finished it 6 months ago. All the reports I heard were that the breakers were a combination of unreliable and/or overly sensitive. After the electricity was turned on in the basement, but before it was finished, I found that some of my hand tools would immediately trip the arc fault protected circuits. Ended up having to run a long extension cord to a normal circuit to run the RotoZip and a couple of other tools.

Good thing the Govenment is so concerned with making us 100% safe. Unreliable solution at roughly 10x the price for about a .0001% increase in safety for something that was already 99.99 reliable and safe. Sounds about par for the course.

[Irving]

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!

Noted.

[Sparky]

Arc fault breakers are stupid and so are tamper resistant receptacles. If a kid can't learn the hard way to not stick shit in the plug then how will they ever respect electricity.

[Marlin]

Arc fault breakers are stupid and so are tamper resistant receptacles. If a kid can't learn the hard way to not stick shit in the plug then how will they ever respect electricity.

^^ This. I spent more time trouble shooting arc fault breakers last summer, than I had trouble shooting everything else in the previous 24 years. Everything from a loose fixture wire to the screws on a device no being tight enough. I also learned Arc faults, they do not like the "speed wire" method.

[Ah Pook]

Boulder Co. requires a GFI outlet at the first location of all wire runs. Did this when I built the garage. Biggest PITA ever. They would blow it you looked at them funny.

[Alpha2]

Is this crap required in new commercial construction? I do the dental equipment in new office buildouts, and some weird stuff is starting to happen on a regular basis. I HAVE seen a lot of those push-in connectors, I've had to insist they don't use them on x-ray or sterilizer circuits. I can't believe those things are even code.

[sandman76]

No AFCI breakers are required on commercial installations.

[mbl]

Just thought I would update this thread with what was actually happening. I replaced the suspected faulty CB, with a traditional breaker. I was shocked at the price difference between the traditional type vs. the "new and improved" ($4 vs. $39 at Home Depot).

After replacing the CB, I had the exact same issue. The CB would trip as soon as it was switched on. I was certain that the CB was installed correctly, so I moved on to troubleshooting. First I checked a ceiling fan that I installed 2 years ago. It checked out ok, I could not find any loose wires, or evidence of arc'ing etc. Just to be sure, I re-did all the wire nuts and re-tested. When I tested the CB again, my 6 year old said he heard a sound in the wall somewhere....This gave me a clue.

Next I went back and started going through the outlets, since that seemed like the most logical thing to do. On the 2nd outlet I pulled, I saw evidence of arching where the load line push into the outlet, i found that the ground wire was routed straight up the back of the outlet right in between the load and neutral wires. This would be OK, but one of the load wires was stripped too much and had bare copper exposed that the ground wire was touching. This was the issue!! I re-routed the ground wire so that it did not track up the back of the outlet and re-striped the load line in question so that there was no exposed copper.

No I am wondering how many other outlets and switches were carelessly installed.....

[rockhound]

as a former remodeling contractor I have found hundreds of poorly installed electrical fixtures, outlets, or whatever, O once gat a call to come out a nd finish a kitchen behind another contractor that had walked out on a job. he had taken the old panel which was behind the fridge, pigtailed to every circuit in order to in stall a new panel, then filled the entire old panel with drywall mud over the wiring and pigtails etc in order to finish the wall. I turned that job down, no way was i going to tie my name to that cluster in any way.