I am having engineering review my technical reply, hopefully sometime tomorrow. In the interim, our AFCI devices are both UL1699 (AFCI) and UL1043 (equipment ground fault).
Obviously, arcs can occur anywhere in a home wiring system. Anything I say about why the code making panel chose bedrooms woult be speculation since I wasn't there. The fact that most people die in bedrooms had something to do with it, but I'm sure that consideration was given to the nature of wiring in a bedroom, and the types of devices that are used. By that I mean that many bedrooms have large furniture against the wall such as headboard, dresser, chest, nightstands, etc. Therefore, it is more likely that wires would be abused by having the furniture pressed up against and bending the wire. Also, unlike standard lighing loads, the loads may tend to be more continuous such as alarm clocks, telephones, air cleaners, electric blankets, etc. Therefore, the loads would be running while people are sleeping. Just a thought.
