Hot take: Those AFCI breakers aren't worth the hassle in old houses

I've been hearing everyone rave about retrofitting AFCIs for years now, but after a job last month on a 1950s house in Portland... I'm not convinced. The customer spent $400 on new breakers and we still had nuisance tripping on the bedroom circuit every time they plugged in a vacuum. Has anyone else had more trouble than peace of mind with these things?

2 comments

2 Comments

ray_carr14d ago

Wait, hold on... you're telling me the breaker tripped on a loose connection that was actually sparking behind the wall? That's wild... I mean, I guess that's what they're for, but it still feels like a crap shoot. That old vacuum motor thing makes sense though, those old canister vacs from the 70s have brushes that are probably shot and throwing arcs all over the place. I just hate how these breakers turn a simple fix into a troubleshooting nightmare when you're working with cloth wiring and no ground...

lindahunt14d ago

Nah I gotta push back a little here. I get where you're coming from with the 1950s house struggle, but those arc faults actually saved my buddy's place from burning down last year. He had old wiring in his 1960s ranch and a breaker tripped on a loose connection in the bedroom that was literally sparking behind the wall. Without the AFCI it would've kept going until something caught fire. The vacuum tripping thing is real though, but usually it's because that old vacuum has a worn out motor or cord that's arcing. Check if the vacuum itself is the problem before writing off the whole idea.