We were finally able to move into our new to us home built in 1997. Our licensed electrician put in AFCI’s in the panel. Our new dishwasher is sporadically tripping the breaker. Sometimes within a few minutes, sometimes we can do a load or two. (We are washing all the dishes, pots and pans etc packed by the movers.). A young man that has installed our wireless internet system shared that he had the same problem with a new refrigerator and spoke to his neighbor who is a GC. They determined the problem was the AFCI and removed it, putting a regular style in. We reached out to the electrician and he says it’s the dishwasher. He shared that the AFCI is designed for appliances.
The electrician didn’t check the outlet as the dishwasher was already installed by the appliance repairman we use. Any ideas where we should start looking? Do we pull the dishwasher out and check the outlet or just call the appliance company we purchased all the new kitchen appliances from?
Replies
If this is not a dedicated circuit for the dishwasher only, the problem could be elsewhere on that circuit.
You mention “outlet”. Not direct wired?
What kind of electrician just says…..
It must be sumpin else?
Is he too busy to check something which doesn’t have his name on it?
My son had all kinds of trouble with AFCI and his new house.
In some cases changing to another type of AFCI fixed the issue, in others, changing the appliance. (in his case a toaster that was $10 or so)
You can change to an old style breaker if you like, but there are good reasons for AFCI breakers.
IMHO, there are good reasons for AFCIs, but they're not really ready for prime time- a significant percentage of them are subject to nuisance tripping in certain situations. For some reason, dishwashers are often the culprit. I have a bench grinder that will pop one AFCI, but not another of the same brand in the next circuit over. My other bench grinder doesn't pop either AFCI.
In my mildly-qualified opinion, dishwashers aren't the kind of application that's likely to need an AFCI. I wonder if the AFCI problems are due to the common split receptacle 3-wire configuration often used for dishwashers/garbage grinders, where the two circuits share a common neutral.
My understanding of AFCI breakers, is to protect receptacle circuits in the event an appliance has a microshort. The code seems to have expanded beyond that. Bobbomax is probably correct re sharing a common neutral. I would replace the breaker with a normal breaker and not worry about it. Just as an aside my wrought iron guy had a heck of a time finding a non AFCI circuit to plug in his arc welder (trips a AFCI every time)
Thinking further, it might make sense to replace an AFCI in a kitchen appliance circuit with a GFCI- while kitchen appliances aren't likely to be subject to arc faults, ground faults are a real possibility and hazard. In my experience, GFCIs rarely show nuisance tripping- a tripped GFCI usually indicates a problem.
I was experiencing puzzling "nuisance" tripping in an AFCI circuit with a motion detector in it- then I realized it coincided with heavy rains. I suspect the mounting box has a leak on the top and no drain in the bottom.
As far as the ARC welder tripping the ARC Fault Circuit Interrupter, I guess that counts as the good news.
Not if there are no normal circuits to be had. Sometimes we go to far to protect people with no common sense