I understand the NEC residential codes for 2008 includes the following changes:
All kitchen, bathroom, garage, basement and exterior receptacles must be GFCI. The change involves the sump pump, kitchen refrigerator and garage freezer receptacles. ALL will be GFCI.
All other circuits within the home, including lighting and smoke detector circuits will be AFCI. Currently, only bedroom circuits are required to be AFCI.
All receptacles will be tamper proof(child proof) with some type of a sliding mechanism to prevent any object from entering one side. Both slots must be opened simultaneously for the receptacle to accept a plug.
Local adoption of these code changes will vary.
Larger panel boxes are being produced to accept all of the AFCI breakers. There are no tandem AFCI avaliable.
*]Apparently, a manufacturer is close to releasing a combination GFCI & AFCI receptacle.
1- Not all of these are required to be GFCI protected. In the kitchen only those above the counter top and only in the unfinished basement. In the garage everything will require GFCI protection
2- Not all in the home will require arc-fault. Kitchens, unfinished basements and garages as well as all devices installed outside are not included
3- All devices installed as outlined in 210.52 will require tamper resistant devices
4- Yes, a lot of states are amending the 2008 code as we speak
5- To the best of my knowledge there are no tandem arc-fault breakers on the market today. Panels will no longer be limited to 42 circuits but the limit was not lifted for the installation of arc-fault breakers
6- The combination arc-fault receptacle (this is parallel and series arc devices) was released a few years back but was recalled. I have no knowledge of the manufacturers doing combination arc-fault and ground-fault in one device.
