Yeah, I wouldn't have done just for the heck of it, but since it needed to be done I figured I could save some money doing it myself. It still cost close to $700, but that's much less than an electrician would've charged.
Well, I guess the surge protector you put in with the new panel also added in to the cost. I know AFCI breakers (although I don't see any) are also pretty expensive too.
That sounds absolutely nuts... Houses have been fine without them for years, I can't help but wonder if the manufacturers may have "donated" some money to have that section placed in the Code...
my house only has the AFCI breaker for the bedrooms. they're gray a chubby compared to the regular back breakers. If you touched the nuetral wire of an outlet would an AFCI breaker trip?
Neutral to ground contact will trip and AFCI breaker. You also get that with GFCI breakers as well. The requirement for most circuits to be on an AFCI started with the 2008 NEC.
Ahh that explains why the breaker tripped when i was uninstalling the light in my room. The switch was off but ti was plugged in so the neutral was still "live" for lack of a better term.
The bedroom outlet circcuits in my house (2003) have the AFCI breakers.
Fuses are actually far safer than breakers, a breaker can stick shut and not trip, a fuse obviously can't. The only issue is people bypassing and installing larger fuses. If they still made fuse panels I would've installed one, just to be different.
I think they still make the inserts but they don't make new panels anymore. I guess if you had the room, you could put a fused disconnect on each circuit.
I wouldn't want to stick a penny in one. There was a fire around not too long ago and they thought it would be a great idea to have 3 fridges and a dryer plus your common household appliances on 15a type D fuses and when the fuses were overloaded there was a small fire and the person was crazy and put water on an electrical fire
The bedroom outlet circcuits in my house (2003) have the AFCI breakers.