My brand new home has all available outlets protected by dual purpose circuit breakers EXCEPT for my bathrooms which are protected only by Eaton 15 amp Type BR Combination AFCI breakers. My blender and vacuum (both are pretty high draw) work faultlessly when plugged into a bathroom outlet but I'm getting tired of using an extension cord. Using any other outlet trips a breaker (about 95% of the time) immediately when turning on the appliance. Is there some kind of "dampening" device that I can plug in between the vacuum and outlet to stop the tripping? On the rare occasion when the breaker doesn't trip when turning on the appliance, it runs fine so I am guessing it has something to do with the inrush current. Note that I have a dedicated 20 amp outlet protected by a Dual Purpose breaker but that works no better than the 15 amp breakers. Also, I assume, I would be breaking code by changing out a Dual Purpose breaker with Combination Breaker. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Electrical – Dual Purpose breaker (Eaton type BR Combination AFCI/GFCI) trips when starting blender or vacuum
circuitelectrical
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Best Answer
I believe your dual function breakers (GFCI and AFCI protection) are thinking you have an arc fault, not a ground fault or excessive current. A "Combination Breaker" is one that provides series and parallel arc fault protection and not GFCI protection. Some people confuse "Combination" with GFCI and AFCI, but those are properly called "Dual Function", as you did.
Is the bathroom outlet AFCI protected? If not, you just ruled out over-current (inrush) and ground fault causing the trip, meaning the other breakers are thinking there is an arc fault.
Motors that have brushes are common causes of what you are experiencing. Unfortunately all this great new "protection" is interfering with day to day operation.