We’ve had AFCI’s in the code for well over a decade. I, personally, have yet to encounter one. So — how are they working out?

At the family picnic today my relations regaled me with tales of the darn things nuisance tripping. Among the items claimed to trip them are gas ranges with spark ignition and refrigerators.

This brings up two questions:
— Is nuisance tripping an issue?, and,
— How do you determine whether the cause is an arc fault or a ground fault?

Naturally I cannot speak to the validity of the complaints. What has been your experience?