According to National Fire Protection Association reports, more than 45,000 fires are caused by electrical failure or malfunction every year. This is due, in part, to the materials and methods used to construct homes and furniture, resulting in faster flashover and a reduction in escape time from 17 minutes to 4 minutes over 30 years.

To determine whether advanced-function circuit breakers (required by the National Electrical Code) work only during hazardous conditions but not standard operating conditions, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association and Schneider Electric teamed up to conduct interoperability testing on fans used for ventilation and exhaustion. This segment was tested because the residential fan market has shown steady growth, with predictions of continued growth from $9.94 billion in 2023 to $10.35 billion in 2024.

An advanced-function circuit breaker is defined as an arc-fault circuit interrupter (AFCI), ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) or a dual-function (DF) circuit breaker that incorporates both technologies.

Types of residential fans tested include attic ventilation, bathroom exhaust and radon gas removal fans. A variety of manufacturers and fan types were evaluated.

The test program determined issues of interoperability of residential fans with advanced function circuit breakers. Three manufacturers of DF advanced-function circuit breakers were used. The test protocol used leakage current monitoring to determine if the DF circuit breaker tripped on arc fault, ground fault or thermal magnetic.

A humidity chamber was added to provide a realistic environment for various humidity and temperature levels. The Large ESPEC humidity chamber was set at 130°F to conduct the tests for the attic fans. The bathroom and radon fan tests were completed with the humidity chamber conditions set at humidity that was cycled between 20% and 93% every three hours. Bathroom fans included standard exhaust fans and some with accessories such as lights and humidity sensors. There were also three multispeed fans that used electronically commutated motors.

Each test was conducted for two days over an 8-week period in 2023 at Schneider Electric’s Cedar Rapids, Iowa, test laboratory.

Results showed that no DF circuit breaker tripped during any of the testing, proving that AFCI, GFCI and thermal magnetic protection functions within advanced-function circuit breakers operated without tripping

“The testing results prove there is consistent and successful interoperability of AFCI, GFCI and thermal magnetic protection circuit breakers with a variety of residential fans under normal operating conditions,” said Keith Waters, director of industry standards at Schneider Electric. “This new data is also important to those in the electrical, construction and fire safety industries who strive to prevent electrical fires, and for code adoption experts considering expanding AFCI requirements into attics and bathrooms in the 2026 NEC.”

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