Where and Why Do We Need AFCI Protection?

do we need arc fault protection or nah so for those of you in the Stone Age that  don't know what our fault protection is   afci arc fault circuit interrupter protection  it is a way to interrupt the circuit if there   is a arc fault so what is an arc vault there's  two different kinds of Arc faults there's series   arcs and there's parallel arcs so a series Arc  is if you have a wire and that wire breaks now   in series in the circuit you have a arcing point  and there's certain characteristics of this arcing   that they've been able to figure out an algorithm  and stuck a circuit board inside of a breaker and   it can figure out what's happening in a circuit  based off of the signature of this Behavior   parallel Arc is a little bit different that's when  you have a hot and a neutral instead of shorting   out to each other they're arcing between each  other and arcing can create heat it can cause   fires it can cause electrocution it can cause a  lot of different things but there's Breakers that   are smart enough now that can tell whether or  not there is a series Arc or a parallel Arc and   but in both cases it can trip a breaker so that  is what afci protection is afci protection comes   in the same forms as GFCI protection so you'll  either have a receptacle that says afci instead   of GFCI on it or you'll have a breaker and a panel  that says uh afci sometimes it might say C afci or   combination afci combination afci means that it  does series and parallel arcs which all Breakers   should do now don't get that Twisted with dual  function Breakers just because it says combination   does not mean it's dual function dual function  is where there is GFCI protection and afci   protection in the same breaker so a dual function  breaker is even like more on steroids essentially   because it'll protect if there's ground faults  or both series and parallel Arc vaults foreign actually say about it where are we required to  put afci devices in this is really interesting   because with gfcis we're specifically talking  about receptacles where we plug a receptacle in   somebody could be standing in water so it's to  protect people Personnel there's places where   equipment has to be protected too you might  have this massive switch gear like 2000 amp   switch gear and when you energize that you don't  want a ground fault if there's a ground fault   you could send Fireballs through a room so you  have to actually have GFCI protection on some   equipment as well to protect that equipment but  most of the time we're talking gfcis you know   in for receptacles we're talking about just like  Personnel protection so when we talk about gfcis   in the last video I did I mentioned that it's  receptacles only there's one instance in which   they they do mention lighting outlets in crawl  spaces specifically that's the only place but   other than that it's for specifically receptacles  so with arc fault protection what does it say it's   a little bit different than so we're in 210.12  arc fault circuit interrupted protection arc fault   circuit interrupter protection shall be installed  in accordance with 210.12b through e by any of   the means described in 210.12 A1 through A6 the  afci shall be listed and installed in a readily   accessible location readily accessible meaning  you don't have to like move anything climb up   on ladders to like uncover this receptacle or gain  access to it it's readily accessible meaning like   easily just right there now in part A it shows  all of the different means of protection so it   lists the different types I'm not going to read  all of these but number one a listed combination   type afci installed to provide protection of the  entire branch circuit so like a breaker style that   protects the entire circuit a listed Branch or  feeder type afci installed at the origin of the   branch circuit in combination with a listed  Outlet branch circuit type afci so so there   are actual Outlets that go in your wall that can  provide afci protection so from the first point   through the rest of the circuit you're protecting  it so there's a bunch of different like ways in   which you can do this and depending on what kind  of conduit you're running conductors in stuff   like that they might you might be able to get away  with doing it one of these different ways in a one   through six but B is what I wanted to talk about  B is the dwelling units section of this so there's   basically anything that's habitable habitable  habitable is it habitable or is it habitable   uh in B it talks about specifically with dwelling  units C talks about dormitory units and D talks   about other occupancies so it's still all  things where people are going to be sleeping   in essentially even when they're talking about  other occupancies so in dwelling units this is   what most people are watching for right now so  we're going to talk about just normal dwelling   units it says all 120 volt single phase 10 15  and 20 amp Branch circuits not receptacles not   lights not equipment not uh switches the entire  circuit so all 10 15 and 20 amp Branch circuits   120 volt that are supplying Outlets or devices  installed in the following locations shall be   protected by any of the means described in 210.12  A1 through A6 which we were just talking about   it's specifically the location that they care  about making sure that anything in that area   whether it's a hardwired appliance whether  it's a receptacle whether it's a switch and   a light lighting Outlet doesn't matter it's the  entire branch circuit in these areas kitchens   everything in the kitchen expanded to whatever  a kitchen means to you again we had the GFCI   language changed to say kitchens and then it says  areas with sinks and permanent Provisions for food   preparation beverage preparation or cooking they  kind of like split that up so this might allow   them a little bit of leeway to like get away with  not having to do some of the part that you might   not consider a kitchen but it's kind of a prep  cooking area but the actual kitchen which on the   plan just says Kitchen on it you know what I mean  they probably should have changed this as well   whatever you think a kitchen is actually really  whatever your inspector thinks a kitchen is   because ultimately they're going to be the ones  giving you the thumbs up or the thumbs down so   anything in a kitchen family rooms so family  rooms you can consider that a place where family   spends time I suppose it's like a living room  but they're going to specifically say living   rooms family room dining room living rooms those  could all be the same room typically dining room   has a table and chairs but mine doesn't mine has  a drum set and a weight bench so uh but yeah it's   a dining room nonetheless living rooms parlors  libraries dens uh then we've got bedrooms all   bedrooms sun rooms Recreation rooms so I mean  that could be like a weight room or something   like that in the house closets hallways laundry  areas and my favorite of them all similar areas why not just say every room in the house why why branch circuit supplying the entire  house every circuit in the entire house   but no no where are the no's the nose are  bathrooms there's nothing about bathrooms on here   there's nothing about garages on here I get  there's some things in the garage that you   might plug in that you know you don't want  tripping so like they kind of give leeway on   that because there's some manufacturers that have  nuisance tripping if you plug their stuff in and   constantly trips Breakers I get that Outdoors is  also another thing that's not listed so anything   is basically only indoors and not bathrooms  and garages everything else needs to be arc   fault protected and I see that changing in  the coming years I actually think in the not   so distant future panels are going to be a lot  smarter and they're going to be able to detect   ground faults and Arc faults and they're going to  be able to give you a lot more Diagnostics so I   can kind of see in the future just if expanding to  every circuit needs to be GFCI protected and afci   protected and manufacturers are going to have to  start manufacturing their equipment to make sure   that it it can be on those circuits that it can  it's not going to interfere with the running of   a breaker because it's just doing weird stuff I  can see that happening so that's pretty much it   for the dwelling unit so it's basically everything  in your house except for bathrooms and garages the   exception afci protection shall not be required  for individual Branch circuits applying a fire   alarm system installed in accordance with 760.41b  or 760.121b the branch circuit shall be installed   in a metal Raceway metal auxiliary gutter steel  armored cable or type m MC or type AC cable   meeting if the applicable requirements of 250.118  with metal boxes condo bodies and enclosures   exception number two afci protection shall not  be required for the individual branch circuit   supplying an outlet for arc welding equipment  and a dwelling until January 1st of 2025. a   breaker detects arcs an arc fault breaker an  arc welder is an arc throwing machine laughs how are they gonna have arc fault breakers  that don't trip when you have an arcing welder   in 2025 by 2025 it senses arcs that's its whole purpose how are  you gonna make you're gonna change the way the   nature of welders or are you going to make  Breakers oh God I can't wait to see this one   wait to see this one all right so that's it  then we've got dormitory units if you want   to go into that and look it's pretty much the  same thing just there's a lot less stuff in   dormitory units so they don't it's kind of like  not as expanded of a list all other occupancies   covers guest rooms of hotels and motels and stuff  like that so it's still places people are going   to be like being inhibitable habitable all right  then we've got e which is important to cover too   branch circuit wiring extensions modifications  or Replacements if you take out a panel do you   really have to make sure all of the arc fault  breakers are put in what it says is if you're   extending the circuits then you do but if you're  just directly changing a panel out probably not   but here in Austin kind of depends on uh the  inspector it depends on which city around the   town that you're actually working in whether or  not they want you to do it sometimes they'll say   we don't care you changed out a service so we want  you to upgrade every single one of the breakers   and put all our faults in it's like we didn't  extend any circuits we didn't add any new wire   they're like we don't care let's add our faults  everywhere this is what code specifically says   it says if branch circuit wiring for any of the  areas specified in 210.12 BC or D is modified   replaced or extended the branch circuit shall  be protected by one of the following by any of   those means in 210.12a by a listed Outlet branch  circuit type afci located at the first receptacle   Outlet of the existing branch circuit and then the  exception to it says afci protection shall not be   required where the extension of the existing  branch circuit conductors is not more than   six feet and does not include any additional  Outlets or devices other than splicing devices   this measurement shall not include the conductors  inside of an enclosure cabinet or junction box so   there you go if you're not extending the circuit  then this book says that you don't have to worry   about making sure that it's upgraded to afci  protection but I would check with your inspectors   on that first so if you want to watch a little  bit more about ground fault circuit interrupter   protection GFCI protection click this video  here I did a very similar thing where I go   through the code and talk about it in depth and  if you want to learn more about ground fault arc   fault and dual function I have a video right  here love you crazy people see in the next one

Channel: Electrician U

Views: 145,288

Keywords: electrician, electrical, electricity, dustin stelzer, electrician vlog, construction, commercial, residential, electrical vlog, electrical courses, electrician courses, electrical class, electrician class, electrician school, afci protection, where and why afci, short circuit, parallel arc fault, arc-fault circuit interrupter, arc-fault breaker, what is arc flash, arc flash explained, electrical contractor, customers questions, electronic code book, national electric code

Id: jMjBGzyoWUY

Length: 12min 45sec (765 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 07 2022