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AFCI Breaker Recall Info (A Home Inspection Informational Blog)

Part of being a good home inspector is being familiar with recalls. One such recall is listed below.

AFCI breakers were instituted for safety beginning in 2002 and are required in bedroom circuits. They provide protection against arcs, which could lead to scorching, overheating and fires. They are a good safety item. However there was a recall from the Consumer Product Safety Commission on some Square D AFCI breakers with blue reset buttons, as shown below. These are located in main electrical panels.

Recalled AFCI breaker. By Pillar To Post a Rancho Cucamonga home inspection company.

As a home inspector I have information for recalls on my laptop and print them out for additional information for my clients. You can look up the Consumer Product Safety Commission on the internet for further information about recalls, and even sign up to be alerted by email for future recalls.

If you have one of these breakers with a blue reset button, please contact a qualified electrician to make sure it's not recalled. If you would like the info sheet I give to my clients, email me through this site and I'll email it to you.

I hope this gives you a little more information about a home inspection and its value. Be safe out there.

Posted by Joseph Lang of Pillar To Post Professional Home Inspection

Posted by Joseph Lang - Southern California Home Inspector on 03/02/2009 09:40 AM

Comments (8)

safety, electrical, rancho cucamonga home inspections, fontana home inspections, chino hills home inspections, upland home inspections, la verne home inspections

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8 Comments on AFCI Breaker Recall Info (A Home Inspection Informational Blog)

MAR

Joseph, good info. I would add that these breakers that had a problem were manufactured between March 2004 and September 2004 so would effect houses that were built or remodeled around that time period.

Great point Charles. I always debate with myself on how much info to put in the blog since I don't want to make it too long, but the dates are certainly important. Of course I want to remind anyone that even though they were made in 2004 they can sit on the shelf in warehouses for a while, so maybe give it a 2-3 year period of homes to be cautious about. Have a great week Charles, I always appreciate your input.

Hi Joseph - Great point about recalls. Good for you for keeping them readily available by storing them in your laptop that you take to appointments.

Thanks Marlene. I'm doing another post about the recalled attic furnaces, those are certainly an issue here in Southern California. Kepp your eye out.

Thank you for the info Joseph, I will keep this in the back of my mind. We have many homes here in Temecula and Murrieta that were built around 2002...many are now vacant so when showing or previewing I will look out for this if I have someone putting an offer in on one of these homes.

Jane, I'm glad you can use the info. There sure are a lot of vacant houses these days. I would estimate that over 90% of the inspections we perform are vacant houses... crazy.

MAR

Joe- Oh my it's about midnight right now, but come morning I am going to go check my circuts as I had done some electrical upgrades during that time. Thanks for once again giving us some good info.

Kathy, if you need the info from the CPSC, send me an email.

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