AFCI Breaker Questions

Separated from: http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...aker-trip.html

Hey everyone. Brand new to this forum, great info here! I have a few related questions to the original post by mysoho. I have a very similar circuit breaker as shown in his/her picture. (It is bigger/wider than the other CBs in my panel and sticks out to the side further than the non-AFCI breakers. Mine was originally installed in 2005 but has a yellow test sticker instead of green.) We had a lightening storm recently and I cannot get power back to this bedroom no matter how many times I try and reset or test the breaker. I went down to Home Depot and bought a replacement - but it is much smaller. It is the same size as the other "regular" breakers. I read an FAQ on eaton.com that older AFCI breakers are branch feeder AFCI and use yellow stickers and the newer combination AFCI breakers use green stickers.

Here are my questions: Are the newer combination AFCI breakers also smaller? Why is the replacement that I just purchased a lot smaller than the one I am replacing? Did the branch feeder AFCI breakers use bigger circuitry/electronics on the inside? Or have things simply gotten smaller over the last 10 years and it can all now fit inside a regular sized breaker? OR - Is it small because it was bought from the big chain/discount store and everything inside is smaller/cheaper? I noticed the pigtail was cheaper/thinner and they changed it from a 12 AWG wire to a 14 AWG wire. I'm concerned I'm replacing it with something cheaper and I won't get the same mileage.

Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forums!

Most cases it is better to start your own thread rather then piggybacking on another one. That way your question will get the attention it deserves.

I have seen many different sizes of AFCI breakers. Some are about the same size as a regular breaker, others are almost twice the size of a regular breaker. Just depends on the manufacture. I have not noticed any breakers getting smaller of the same make/model. I have also see different colored test buttons by brand, current rating, and standard and combination AFCIs.

First question is did you buy the same make of breaker you are replacing and is that breaker the same for your panel? (IE: a Square D Homeline breaker for a Homeline panel.)

 

Go back and read that FAQ again, the difference between the earlier AFCI breakers and the current AFCI breakers is that the older ones only protected against parallel faults and the newer combination type protects against both parallel and series faults. What is the catalog number of the new AFCI breaker you purchased?

 

@Tolyn: Thanks for the reply and creating a new thread for me. But the reason I was piggybacking on the thread was because I was referencing the picture from the original post. Sorry if that complicated things. I replaced an Eaton circuit breaker with another Eaton circuit breaker for a Cutler Hammer panel. My original AFCI CB was larger than the other CBs in my panel (like the one in the picture.) But the replacement I purchased was smaller, 10 years newer, had a different colored sticker, and is the same size as all the other CBs in my panel.

 

@CasualJoe: Yes, that's right! Thanks. I knew the older one only did one fault protection and the newer one did multiple faults and is called a combination type AFCI. The FAQ also talked about sticker and button colors and it seemed to match what I had (i.e. my older breaker only did parallel faults and had a yellow sticker, and the new breaker was a combination type and had a green sticker). I thought I put the part numbers in my post, but maybe they were lost when moving to the new thread.

Old breaker: BR115AF
Picture: Eaton, 15 Amp Single-Pole Fireguard AFCI Type BR Breaker, BR115AF at The Home Depot - Mobile

New breaker: BRCAF115CS
Picture: Eaton 15 Amp Single Pole BR Type Breaker-BRCAF115CS at The Home Depot

Why is it so much smaller than the original? Is it because it is newer?

 

Newer technology. ..............