ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Elevator tripping AFI

I do have a gfi breaker in the panel, but also 2 other afi's which don't trip...but neither has 3 amps on it at time elevator is called. When lights are off when elevator is called it doesn't trip either...only after 3 amps.

The AFCI that trips is not in the circuit for the elevator?

I guess I missed that. Have you swapped it with one that doesn't trip? If it stays with that circuit, what is special about that circuit? Does the wiring run through the elevator shaft or something?
Does it run parallel or share a box with the elevator circuit? (some place where they could be capacitively coupled)

This article from Eaton on hybrid TVSS and noise supression basically describes what I was talking about.

TVSS/Noise Suppression

I recommend you put a power quality analyzer on this circuit and watch the response when the elevator operates. That will help you narrow down the problems. If it's just a matter of the elevator frequency drive creating so much ITHD that VTHD is tripping this breaker, you're going to have other problems that go far beyond a nuissance trip and really need to bring the THD down. You can't know any of this, though, until you get some instrumentation on there.