ECN Forum Forums Code Related Discussion NEC & other Code issues small appliance circuit

Greg and all- Just had an email with Don Iverson, the NEMA rep in our area and talked to Cutler Hammer and indeed they have an AFCI/GFCI breaker with a trip of 4-5 ma, that's the good news, the bad news is they only have it in the branch circuit variety and not in the combination variety that is required by code now.

So, I guess the next question is where would the branch feeder type AFCI’s be acceptable to use.
For replacement purposes?
If not, I can’t see any reason for them to even manufacture these anymore.

They may just be working off the existing stock while the new one is in the pipe. There may be "the next big thing" still working it's way through B test. The code really han't created the need yet. When kitchens and bathrooms go on AFCI, I bet these new ones will be out there.

In days like these, it's hard to remember that one essential element of law is that folks be able to know, with certainty, just what the law is.

Forget the opposition to the AFCI; nothing has made the AFCI issue more confusing than the existance, within such a short time, of two distinct types of AFCI.

Compare this to the major upgrade there was a few years back on GFCI's. There was no code change; rather, the new ones were quietly introduced and the old ones no longer made. All it took was a change in the testing standard, all done somewhere behind the scenes.

The real problem with AFCI is the amount of black science surrounding it. A GFCI has a simple performance standard and it is easy to test. AFCIs are sold on confidence alone and there is no real performance standard. Each manufacturer has it's own proprietary design that uses a secret method to decide whether the arc it sees is a fault or a normal operating situation. The different "classes" of AFCIs are just in the opinion of the manufacturer.
As far as I can tell, they tell the NRTL how to do the test then the NRTL does the test and lists the product.