CAFI vs AFCI? Pigtail

afcicircuit breaker

I need a new AFCI circuit breaker for a new refrigerator-only circuit we're running. Square D Homeline. Don't want any GFCI outlet or breaker. I bought two breakers at home depot, but I don't know which one I need.

  1. No labeled AFCI breakers at home depot, only CAFI. However, the back of both described them as AFCI. Are CAFI and AFCI basically the same thing or is there any meaningful difference?

  2. One is titled "Plug-on Neutral CAFI" without a pigtail. The other is titled "Combination Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter" with a pigtail. Package features on back label use different wordage, but actually say the same thing. The breakers themselves have different label designs. Front of packages are similar design and both have labels that say "Arc Fault Protection". They cost the same $42.94 and are same size. Which one do I want and why?

EDIT: Forgot to mention both claim to cover parallel and series faults.

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Best Answer

So much has happened in this area recently. AFCI stands for Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter, CAFI stands for Combination Arc Fault Interrupter. There are 2 types of arc faults: 1) Series (loose connection) and 2) Parallel (like a short, but not drawing enough current to trip a normal breaker. You can't use a PON (plug on neutral) breaker unless you have a PON panel, which are fairly new. Most arc fault breakers these days handle both. THere are also dual function breakers (DUFIES!) that handle both types of arc faults, ground faults and over-current protection. Since you said you didn't want ground fault protection, you don't want a dufie breaker. Depending upon the location of the fridge, and which NEC code is in effect where you live, that may not be code legal, if that matters to you. 2020 NEC code requires practically everything to be GFCI protected.

So having said all that, unless you have a PON panel, you need the breaker with the pigtail. I'm going to get snipped and yelled at by all the legalistic people here for this, but if this isn't going to be inspected, for a dedicated Fridge circuit I'd just use a regular breaker. I think it's still code legal to swap a AFCI/GFCI breaker for a regular breaker if you get nuisance trips. Let the hate me begin.

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