As I’ve been doing electrical work in my new home, I’ve had to get up to speed on the latest building codes. One change stood ...

Residential electrical branch circuit breakers incorporate electronic and electrical technology in Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters that can turn off power to prevent fires if arcing occurs. This ...

According to the National Fire Protection Association and the National Fire Incident Reporting System data, the five-year period from 1994 to 1998 averaged 73,500 annual electrical fires that were ...

The Weekly Fix is a home maintenance column by Home Repair Resource Center, a Cleveland Heights nonprofit that helps homeowners buy, repair and retain their homes. Each week, the center offers a ...

Solid-state power controllers (SSPCs) are designed to replace mechanical circuit breakers, which work by tripping when the temperature of their internal sensors reaches a predetermined level (Fig. 1).

A building requirement aimed at making new homes in Ohio safer from the threat of electrical fires will go into effect a year after originally intended. The new rules, part of the 2008 National ...

Question: There was a house fire on our street last week. Investigators traced the cause to a short circuit in an electrical wire. Now I'm terrified that a fire can start in my home without warning.

Effective January 1, 2014, where a receptacle outlet is supplied by a branch circuit that requires arc-fault circuit interrupter protection [210.12(A)], a replacement receptacle at this outlet shall ...

Arc fault circuit interrupters or AFCIs serve an important purpose: they prevent electrical fires caused by wiring problems. An AFCI detects electric arcs, breaking the circuit before trouble arises.

What is this new circuit breaker, the Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter (AFCI), and how is it better than the circuit breakers (CBs) we have? Let me tell you a little story. Recently, I was working in a ...