Finally found the smoke detectors on their own 20 amp AFCI breaker in the panel board…
People are learnin’ here in the South…:mrgreen:
I hope they do included the battery back up in case the AFCI tripped for somereason.
Merci, Marc
Glad they are catching on…even in the area I am inspecting now in Richmond they are finding out I am enforcing this requirement…heck they are just learning that it means receptacles AND lights as well as smokes…( All 15 & 20A -120V circuits within the bedroom)…
Ironically enough…if the circuits are wired properly you wont see near the tripping issues…now as of Jan 1 of this year in regards to the combination requirement…we may see more but not enough false trip issues to out weigh the advantages…
Glad they are coming up to speed fella…hopefully it will make your job easier when they comply.
Also forgive my typos…i am limited to a motorola Q and all thumbs the past 2 days…
Way cool Robert…no i had not seen them. I did recall Eaton talking about doing it and showed me some ideas but did not get to see them physically.
I have always maintained that AFCI’s are every bit a diagnostic tool as well as a potential life saver…now they are really breaking huge ground with this technology…its good for the consumer and even with the increased requirements of 2008 …they will prove they are worthy…
Thanks for the link…i am excited about the AFCI’s advancement…
Yes the smokes should be on an AFCI, but I don’t agree it is a good idea to put them on their own circuit all by themselves. Too easy to shut them off and forget about them. If you put them on the bedroom circuit people will notice when the circuit is off.
And a 20 amp circuit at that? Someone has money to burn.
Certainly smokes should be AFCI protected, but putting them on their own circuit serves no useful purpose and is a waste of a circuit.
ESPECIALLY a 20A circuit. :shock:
What a waste of copper!
It’s a matter of personal style, I suppose. It’s certainly legal to dedicate an AFCI circuit to the smokes, but it is quite wasteful of an expensive breaker for maybe a total of a 1 amp load, plus the waste of a home run wire.
Hopefully this stuf will get settled with time.
Everything I read indicates most of the problems are related to poor installation.
Keeps us working ,from an HI standpoint.
20 amps certainly seems like an overkill, especially with the low draw. Most of the fire marshalls that I have talked with are mixed on the dedicated breaker though, both sides offer good arguements, we’ll see what the fire marshall orgs finally settle on.
Paul
Actually, the NASFM has a position paper on that. Their official position is that it does not matter as long as the units have battery backups.
Makes sense
I had one [future] home owner want the smoke detectors on their own circuit so she could shut them off when cooking.
Gene pool filtering?
tom
actualy that can be a problem.
Some people smoke it up with no vents and seem to like it that way.
Battery back up is fine an dandy with the following exception. Visual smoke alarms used for the hearing impaired, either hard wired or on supply cord, current battery sources will not engage the flashing strobe light. Kind of a catch 22 there. The battery will sound the horn and thats about it, no flash, no warning for the deaf. One would think though with all of the new battery advances in the Nicad supplies that a flash system could be established along the lines like a camera flash. This is where Gentex, Kidde and the rest of the alarm mfg’s really need to get on the ball. Thanks for the opportunity to rant a bit.
Paul
I do it to leave a spare in the attic.
Strobe should be easy with LED.
Now i have put all the smokes on a single bedroom…NEC does not care either way so i have done both.
I dont think LED is going to cut it. 177 candela rating (UL 1971) on the strobes. LED would be comparable to a penlight next to a lightning bolt hitting in the backyard at night.
Paul