6 Questions Answered About Arc Fault Protection

Sure, your home is your castle – but even your special place away from the rest of the world has its hazards. You could trip on a step, start a fire while cooking dinner, and slip after a shower. But how often do you worry about the risk of an arc fault?

It’s most common in older homes with outdated wiring, but it can also occur in a newer – or even brand new – home, particularly if the wiring has been done poorly or an electrical fault has occurred. But even well-wired modern homes aren’t immune to arc faults, because tight bends and pinches in wiring, a simple loose plug, damage caused by a fastener or a pest or worn wiring insulation can trigger a major problem. If an arc fault occurs at your place, that unplanned split-second electrical discharge between defective, corroded or loose wires jumps or ‘arcs’ through the air to somewhere else. It can leave injury, burns, fire, property and equipment damage and even death in its wake, as well as the risk of:

• Blindness
• Hearing loss
• Nerve damage
• Cardiac arrest
• Blast/shrapnel injuries
• Falls & more.

How to stop worrying about arc fault protection

If you’re unlucky, there’s absolutely no mistaking an arc fault – because the phenomenon has been known to blast people off ladders or kill them instantly. If you get a little more warning about something going badly wrong, however, you may notice popping, buzzing or hissing, unexpected heat, or the smell of burning wires, insulation and plastic. Visibly, you could see black or charred signs of sparking around outlets.

But there is a way to ensure you simply never need to worry about the risk of an arc fault at home or at your work premises – and that’s with Clipsal’s best-in-market arc fault detection device (AFDD). The Clipsal arc fault detection device is basically a glorified circuit breaker that knows the difference between a ‘good’ arc and a ‘bad’ arc and will simply de-energise the circuit and cut the supply of electricity instantly.

Got questions about arc fault detection devices? We’ve got all the answers!

1. What if I already have circuit protection?

It’s true that your home already has circuit breakers – and almost certainly also residual current devices (RCDs) like safety switches. You may even have surge protection devices as well, and while they’re all great at spotting major current problems, none of them is designed to detect and stop arc faults.

2. Can I have both an RCD and an arc fault breaker?

Yes. If a circuit is also protected by your existing safety switch or earth leakage detection device, adding arc fault containment won’t interrupt the workings of the RCD at all. In fact, with both an RCD and arc fault detection on a circuit, you could hardly be better protected.

3. Do I need an arc fault protection device on each circuit?

As laid out in the relevant Australian Standard 3000:2018, arc fault protection needs to be installed after the main switch on each separate sub-circuit that is being protected.

4. Isn’t that going to be expensive?

No. The leading arc fault detection device Australia-wide is Clipsal’s, and it’s not only affordable but very simple for your licensed electrician to install in any residential or building electrical switchboard.

5. Is there any ongoing maintenance once installed?

No. All you need to do to ensure your arc fault detection devices are working is to hit the test button.

6. What should I do after the arc fault protection device trips?

If an arc fault has been detected by the Clipsal arc fault detection device, the trip windows will both turn red. The very next thing to do is to call your friendly local electrician.

We’ll bring your arc fault protection up to speed

Once you call Static Electrics, our highly experienced sparkies will figure out what’s going wrong by performing a fast diagnosis test. That will tell us whether an unbalanced circuit, a conductor arc, earth leakage or network overvoltage has caused the arc fault, enabling us to get to the bottom of what’s gone wrong and ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Need help with getting your arc fault detection devices up and running as soon as possible? At Static Electrics, we can rush a fully-loaded van and friendly electrician out to your place all across Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and beyond – so you’ll never need to stress about arc faults ever again! Give the friendly team at Static Electrics a call today.