[paul_arc]

I am in the process of selling my house and the inspector said I need to protect the bedrooms weather it be a gfci breaker, afci breaker, or a gfi in each bedroom at the begining of the circuit.
I installed a gfci breaker and when I go to the bedroom with my plug tester and try to trip it, it does nothing.
I then put the regular breaker back in and put a gfi plug in the bedroom and with the plug tester tried to trip and it doesnt trip. is this because there is no ground wire? only a hot and neut in the box.
What can I do to fix this?

 

[jbfan]

Tell the inspector to provide a code referance. If the house was up to code when it was built, then you should not have to update to current codes.
A bedroom does not have to be protected by a gfci in any case, and afci's are only required if you're area adopted the nec to require them.

As far as not having a ground wire, does this mean you only have 2 wire outlets?
A gfci does not require a ground wire to work, but a tester needs a ground wire to trip a gfci.

If you have replace the 2 wire receptacles, then the inspector may be right, but only a gfci, not an afci.

 

[paul_arc]

Tell the inspector to provide a code referance. If the house was up to code when it was built, then you should not have to update to current codes.
A bedroom does not have to be protected by a gfci in any case, and afci's are only required if you're area adopted the nec to require them.

As far as not having a ground wire, does this mean you only have 2 wire outlets?
A gfci does not require a ground wire to work, but a tester needs a ground wire to trip a gfci.

If you have replace the 2 wire receptacles, then the inspector may be right, but only a gfci, not an afci.

Yeah there are 3 wire repeptacles in there. when I hit the test button on the breaker it trips but not when I do it with the plug tester. what makes it trip? just the hot and neut touching?

 

[Bigplanz]

While code doesn't require you to retrofit an existing circuit that was compliant with the NEC when it was installed, sometimes insurance companies/mortgage companies will require upgrades before they will write an insurance policy/approve a mortgage. I know of at least two instances where panels had to be replaced (old 1970's era split buss panels) before a house could be approved for sale by the mortgage company/insurance policy.

Split Buss panels are perfectly legal if they were installed before (I think) 1984, but they are not code compliant now.

 

[G17GUY]

what makes it trip? just the hot and neut touching?

No, GFCI monitors the neutral and compares it to the hot. A ground fault is when the hot goes to ground, thus an imbalance between the two and interruption occurs.

 

[Scuba_Dave]

By Inspector do you mean a home inspector for a buyer ?

You are not required to bring items up to code that met code when it was built

One exception is smoke detectors & Carbon monoxide detectors
Here those are required

As of NEC 2008 being accepted new bedrooms being built are required to be protected with an AFCI circuit. Right now that means breaker as there isn't an AFCI outlet