I'm an industrial electrician and haven't done any residential work in over ten years. I have never even seen an arc fault breaker. It is something new and they cover it in the continuing education classes. I know arc faults are sensitive. It was the same way with GFI's when they came out. They caused nuisance tripping and people changed them out for regular breakers. I would think that any electrical contractor that removes the arc fault breakers and installs regular breakers would be opening themselves up to full liability in case of a fire. I wouldn't want an arc fault for my incubator for the reasons you mentioned. I don't know yet if a t-stat would trip them. I'm considering an arc fault just ahead of each of my johnson control t-stats that control a row of racks. The only thing on the arc fault would be the t-stat and row of racks. I hope it will work and I can have a little more peace of mind, the thought of a fire is scary. I really like using the belly heat, but I'm seriously considering turning it all off for now and just adjusting the ambient temp in the room a little differently.


This is one of the boards where I mount the johnson control t-stat. The timer controls a little relay inside the box that works the night drop for the t-stat. The dimmer is to keep the heat cables from running at 100% and cycling on and off every few minutes. I could install an arc fault also, if it will work and not be too sensitive. I'll be doing some more research and experimenting.

[ Show Entire Thread ]