I have a 4 month-old house with a 200A Square D Homeline panel. There are AFCIs on some circuits, and others are AFCI/GFCI. I am having NO problem with the AFCI breakers. But here in the last several weeks, three of the AFCI/GFCI breakers in the panel have started tripping intermittently, usually with no load on them. One AFCI/GFCI serves a single dedicated 20A laundry room outlet, another is to the master bathroom, and the third one serves 2 – 20A outlets in the kitchen. Interestingly, these three breakers are connected to the same busbar in the panel at slots #12, #14, and #18. The AFCI/GFCI breakers on the other busbar have no problem. The three breakers all trip simultaneously. I can reset them, then they can be just fine for a couple of days or a couple of hours before they trip again. This doesn't seem to be related to connected loads. I can run tools and kitchen appliances without problems until some unknown event kicks all three breakers off. Could this be a problem on the power company's side of the electrical service? Any and all advice appreciated!!
Electrical – AFCI/GFCI Breakers Trip Intermittently/Simultaneously
electrical
Related Solutions
Your electrician could add a SquareD sub panel that would have the four SquareD AFCI breakers, fed from the GE panel with a standard two pole breaker.
AFCI breakers can be sensitive to certain loads. I've experienced problems with florescent lighting, power tools, and vacuum cleaners tripping the breaker.
Some surge protectors work by "redirecting" surges to the equipment ground, which is pretty much the definition of a ground fault. In this case, it's definitely possible that surge suppressors could be tripping GFCI receptacles/breakers (given a large enough surge).
As for the AFCIs... When electrical contacts separate, they often create an arc between the contacts. This arc spans the gap until the contacts are too far apart, and the arc can no longer be sustained. It's possible (in theory) that the GFCI tripping could create a large enough arc, for long enough to cause the AFCI to trip. It's not likely that a properly functioning GFCI would do this, but if the GFCI was old and worn it could be opening the contacts slow enough that a detectable arc is being produced.
Determining if the GFCI tripping is causing the AFCI to trip, is a simple test. Simply press the test button on the GFCI. If the AFCI trips, you'll have figured out half the problem. If the ACFI does not trip, you could repeat the test using a receptacle tester with a GFCI test function.
If it's determined that the GFCI is causing the AFCI breaker to trip, replacing the GFCI receptacle may resolve that part of the issue.
Figuring out if the surge suppressor is tripping the GFCI, is a more difficult proposition. It will likely require you to monitor the supply voltage over some time, to identify and document possible surges.
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Best Answer
The part where you said they all trip simultaneously and the fact they're all back-to-back makes me suspect of a bad buss bar. Other than that there should not be any correlation between any of these isolated circuits. It's plausible, but highly unlikely the manufacturer shipped out a bad case of breakers and the installer just happened to install them back-to-back but realistically not heard of. Just replace or as Trevor mentioned in his comment swap the known good AFCI with known bad ones and check buss bar for burnt marks. See what happens.