Ngl I think people overestimate AFCI breakers in older homes

I keep seeing guys swap out regular breakers for AFCI ones on 1960s knob and tube wiring and call it a day. Last month I checked a job in a 1958 house where they did exactly that, and the breaker was tripping every time someone plugged in a vacuum. Those old systems just don't play nice with the newer tech. Why not focus on fixing the actual wiring issues first before throwing expensive breakers at it?

2 comments

2 Comments

eva_rivera21d ago

Have you actually tried running modern electronics on 60 year old wiring yourself though? Those old systems were never designed to handle the kind of loads we throw at them today, and a new breaker at least adds some protection until they can afford a full rewire.

amy30221d ago

yeah "at least adds some protection" is kinda the issue here. those afci breakers are tripping because they're detecting actual arcing in old crusty wiring, not because they're faulty. i had a 1956 house once where the owner put in a new afci and it popped every time the fridge kicked on. turns out the old wire had cracked insulation near the junction box that was barely touching. the breaker was doing its job, but nobody fixed the actual problem. so now you've got a 50 dollar breaker that still leaves the house with bad wiring, just now you're resetting it every time you run the microwave.