Yes I almost always do too but in this case I don't consider a six foot length of emt with set screw connectors in an area not subject to damage as loosely connected. I was keeping pipe fill down.
But there has been many posts on this subject, I really wanted to know if the AFCI could see an upstream problem or not.
Would an emt grounding path make the AFCI trip?

Also, this morning the AFCI didn't trip, but the unit would not start either.