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One of Austin's favorite Certified Home Inspectors
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Home Inspections Austin TX, Home Inspector Travis County TX, Austin Home Inspections
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Tech Talk
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All about AFCI
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For years now, a standard circuit breaker has been used to protect electrical circuits in homes. It worked by monitoring the amount of heat on an electrical wire. Too much heat develops on the wire for whatever reason and click, the circuit breaker would move into a "trip" position and stop the flow of electricity. But, it only monitored the heat on 1 wire, the black wire (usually) and it takes 2 wires to turn on a light bulb, a black one and a white one.
The new arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) breakers (one brand pictured at left) monitor BOTH wires, black and white, of each electrical circuit and does it in a better way also. In 2002, the National Electrical Code (NEC) began to require this new level of protection be installed in all bedroom circuits of a home. In September of 2008, the NEC changed again, now requiring the new AFCI breakers to protect bedrooms, family rooms, dining rooms, living rooms, parlors, libraries, dens, sun rooms, recreation rooms, closets, hallways, or similar areas of the home.
Usually, not all cities or municipalities adopt code changes the moment they happen. It usually takes about 3 years for the process to happen, but soon you'll start to see these new breakers a lot more! |
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