Saturday, December 19, 2015

Electrical Protection Residential

AFCI = Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter
AFCI main goal is to sense arcing in electrical wiring aka example NMB romex wire. Example without afci protection a normal single pole circuit breaker could allow the wiring with arcing from fault inside walls, ceiling, ect to smolder and possibly ignite its surroundings. Whereas with a AFCI circuit breaker would sense the fault and trip. Most code/your authority calls for residential bedroom wiring to be AFCI protected. The key here is earth to ground electricity is always going to take the least resistance path to ground. As long as the load center source of electrical energy is correctly code/your authority and is grounded with proper rod or rods and cabling the AFCI  circuit breakers should work correctly.
GFCI = Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter
Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter main goal is to sense positive voltage to ground and trip instaley. The key here is earth to ground electricity is always going to take the least resistance path to ground. As long as the load center source of electrical energy is correctly code/your authority and is grounded with proper rod or rods and cabling the GFCI should work correctly. A simple GFCI tester can be purchased from any hardware store, which is a very good idea as regular test can detect needed device replacement.
Smoke Detector
With carbon dioxide 120/volt ac with 9/volt dc battery backup INTERLOCKED system if one goes off the entire string goes off. Note can be contactor grouped in banks also its unlimited all in the numbers and needs matched to quantity.
Most code/your authority calls for a minimum requirement in hallways, furnace and water heater locations as well as other locations. By adding extra units in every bedroom. Example if one goes off they ALL go off with the existing minimum making more alarm noise. Usually the indicator light will be a different colour from fault unit to the other non fault linked INTERLOCKED units.
Main Load Center Surge Protection
The main goal here is to protect the main source of power from outside lighting hits or other grid misshapes. When the day arrives and blows the device it is ruined and needs replacement. But if correctly code/your authority installed path to ground is correct then the electronics tv, ect will survive as with motors like refrigerators and clothes washers. The key here is earth to ground electricity is always going to take the least resistance path to ground.

D B Electric
email www.offgridpowerdbelectric@gmail.com

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