Always laughed at AFCI breakers until my own panel tripped on a loose neutral

I had a service call last month where a customer's breaker kept tripping for no reason. After 45 minutes of chasing my tail, I realized the neutral wasn't tight in the panel. That one detail convinced me those breakers actually catch real problems, not just nuisance trips. Has anyone else had a similar eye-opener with new code requirements?

2 comments

2 Comments

anna_ross1913d ago

Yeah "loose neutral" is actually a different thing from what AFCI breakers are made for. Those are more for series arcing like a cut cord or crushed wire. Loose neutrals cause parallel arcing which is more of a GFCI thing. I mean it still tripped so you fixed the problem either way.

margaret_gonzalez2513d ago

Heard an electrician on a podcast say the same thing. That AFCI is mostly for arcing in the wire itself like when a lamp cord gets chewed up. Not so much for loose connections at the neutral bar. Guess the breakers are just super sensitive now. Throwing a trip for anything close to arcing. Still if it fixed the problem it's all good. But man it's confusing for regular folks. You fix one thing and end up wondering if you actually fixed the right thing. I guess a trip is a trip. Problem solved.