Arc Fault Outlet Keeps Tripping. Many electronic devices by nature of their own design can cause afci breakers to detect a dangerous electrical arc that isn t actually there. My microwave is intermittently tripping a combination arc fault breaker only when it is mostly empty e g.
The main reason for tripping an arc fault breaker is when the plug of an appliance is pulled from an outlet while the power is still on. Wires are often folded jammed into boxes quickly and if the wrong two wires make contact they can trip an afci. Nuisance tripping occurs because vacuums produce a small amount of sparking basically small electrical arcs as they run.
The switches may appear to work ok however the more a switch is used the more worn out the contacts get which in turn creates a larger gap between the contact materials which could create an arc that contributes to a tripping afci breaker.
Only overload trips respond. This causes afci to detect this as an arc and trip the circuit for safety. Light switches and a tripping afci your brilliant troubleshooting skills have brought you down to a few possibilities one most of all being the light switches. I ve moved the microwave to a different circuit and had the same results.
