AFCI question

[Keith Runquist, CMI]

2002 house. My GFCI tester tripped all the AFCI breakers. Never had it do this before. My first thought is that the older 2002 breakers did give some false trips. Newer ones corrected the problem. Any other ideas?

[Larry J. Michael]

I could see it tripping one, but not more than one, ???

[Keith Runquist, CMI]

Three different bedrooms, three different breakers. They didn't all trip at once.

[Larry J. Michael]

If you hit your tester it should trip the AFCI, if there is no GFCI in the chain. Maybe I didn't read it right. Are you saying just by checking the outlets function, not using the trip button, caused the AFCI's to trip?

I know I have accidentally tripped AFCI's by holding the button down when inserting the tester.

[Bob Elliott]

They may be older and more sensitive.

[Keith Runquist, CMI]

Larry, Interesting that the same thing happens to you but seemingly more often. I test with a GFCI tester and have never had an AFCI trip before using that tester. What Bob said sort of confirms what I was thinking since there was an issue with these things when they first came out. I would think if your GFI is continually tripping AFIs you may want to double check with a second tester to make sure you are really testing what you think you are. I have a hard time trusting the typical $8 tester sice they are so simple inside.