ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Ceiling Fans Tripping AFCI's

I am an inddustrial electrical contractor and have absolutely no experience with AFCI's.

I recently had an employee install some ceiling fans at a friend of mines house and now the homeowner is experiencing nuissance tripping.

Has anybody had similar experiences? What do I need to do to correct this issue. Your help will be appreciated

Primary afci trouble cause= neutral and ground is connecting someplace. Secondary afci trouble cause= trying to return to source on the wrong neutral path. Third is faulty afci. Fourth is motor system with leaky windings. Hope your problem is not #4.

The first place I would look is that big cludge wirenut for the whites. If there is copper showing it will probably short to something.

At an IAEI meeting, the C_H rep did a little 'dog and pony' show, extolling the benefits of AFCI's.

He also alluded to nuisance tripping as caused by electronic ballasts, surge suppressore, dimmers, and speed controls.

It looks like the AFCI might be 'allergic' to ceiling fan controls too.