AFCI breaker question

Sheryl Martin

I just spent $3600 to have my old breaker box, which was mounted outside, replaced with a new one mounted inside my home. Now my (AFCI) breakers are constantly tripping, often 2 separate breakers from areas on different floors trip at exactly the same time. This happens several times an hour, or we can go a few hours without a trip. I don't know what to do, and I am regretting that I "upgraded". Any suggestions? Thanks, SM

added:
The AFCI protection was added along with the new panel.

Michael Thomas

Were these branch circuits previously AFCI protected, or was AFCI protection added along with the new panel?

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jbberns

Call the electrician back. Neutrals could be crossed.

Yoyizit

Reversed hot and neutral wires

Shared neutral wiring on single pole circuit breaker circuits: this is already an existing problem with GFCI's on multiwire branch circuits.

Incorrect or accidental connections between the ground and neutral wire:

A common source of accidental ground-neutral connections occurs when an electrician over-tightens the clamp connector on BX (armored cable) where it connects to a steel junction box.
We saw that his over-tightening the connector pinched inwards the edges of the BX cable. If the BX cable edge cuts into the hot wire the electrician discovers this fault immediately when power is restored to the circuit. But if the cable edge cuts into the neutral wire, the electrician does not discover this fault until a GFCI or an AFCI is installed on the circuit, or until someone touches a supposedly safe armored cable wire exterior and gets a shock.

Normal arcing in appliances: Nuisance tripping that could occur from the normal arcing that occurs in some appliances (such as a vacuum cleaner motor) has been considered in the design of the AFCI circuit. The AFCI is designed to tell the difference between this ordinary arcing and the type of arcing in a circuit that may cause a fire.

I guess there could also be a ground fault.

And one OP lived near a radio station and had to get filters from the AFCI manuf. for the thing to work properly.

Scuba_Dave

Yup, call the guy back
Are these new or old AFCI ?
No problems before ?
What Mfg ?

I have 2 older lamps that the AFCI breakers do not like