Used to hate combo AFCI/GFCI breakers but a job last week changed my mind

I always thought combo breakers were just a expensive pain. Had a house outside Nashville with a kitchen circuit that kept tripping a regular AFCI. After 3 hours of chasing phantom loads I swapped it for a combo unit. The GFCI part caught a intermittent ground fault from a loose neutral in a outlet box. Saved me from having to tear apart the whole wall. The homeowner paid for the extra cost too after I explained it. Anyone else come around on these things after a tricky troubleshooting job?

3 comments

3 Comments

tyler62mo ago

That ground fault you found behind the vanity was likely from a loose neutral, not an actual ground fault. Combo breakers do catch real ground faults too, so they're still helpful for that kind of troubleshooting.

lopez.karen2mo ago

Had a similar thing happen on a rental property in Atlanta last summer. Regular AFCI kept tripping randomly, swapped to a combo breaker and found a tiny ground fault behind a vanity. Made me a believer in those things for sure.

the_ryan1mo ago

Joined the club myself after a similar headache. Had a house where the bedroom circuit would pop the AFCI only when the microwave ran in the kitchen. Drove me nuts for a whole afternoon. Swapped in a combo and found a neutral touching ground behind a switch plate. Would have never caught that without the GFCI part. These things really pay for themselves in hard to find faults.