I have a treadmill I just put in an extra bedroom that has AFCI plugs, so every time I turn the treadmill on, the breaker trips. Is there anything I can do other than have an electrician come and replace the AFCI? I was hoping there would be some type of bypass switch I could just plug in when I want to use the treadmill.

Is the entire circuit on an AFCI breaker or are the individual plugs AFCI? If it were my house I'd just eliminate the AFCI devices altogether... they are nothing but a nuisance.

If I remember correctly, I believe you can buy an adapter to prevent the breaker from tripping.

ak - just the individual plug.

Treadmills and AFCI/GFCI don't go together at all.

There's several theories as to why, but basically the motors aren't of a type that can run on a GFCI or AFCI circuit reliably.

Your choices are pretty much eliminate the AFCI on the circuit - either by disabling it or replacing it - or having a dedicated circuit added for the treadmill. Personally, I would probably just go buy a breaker of the same brand and switch it. Keep the AFCI to put back before you go to sell. Now for the inspector disclaimer - AFCI breakers are a fire safety thing so removing or disabling them is not recommended - done. They are a huge nuisance though.

Very common complaint. Particularly bad in houses that meet the 2008 or better NEC that have AFCI protection pretty much everywhere.

We had the same issue. We got around it by just running an extension cord to a non-AFCI circuit. Every bedroom in our home is AFCI protected and it is a huge pain.

Probably not the best way to do it, but we didnt use the treadmill all that much so having an extension cord to another room was not that big a deal for us.

Rule - that's what I'm doing now, but the extension cord runs down stairs through the living room and up under the kitchen sink. I don't want to do that forever especially with a curious dog running around and a baby in the house.

Absolute - how do I disable it? Also, if I want to replace it, is that something I can do? Would I just flip the main breaker, then buy a new switch, pop the old one out and put the new one in? Would you recommend hiring an electrician to do this?

[This message has been edited by Bassmaster (edited 9/1/2011 9:14a).]

Kill the breaker, replace AFCI outlet with a standard outlet. Cost: $5

When you say AFCI "outlet" are you referring to the AFCI breaker? I though the outlet was just standard, but the breaker contained the AFCI capabilities.

You said above that just the individual plugs are AFCI. If that's not the case, then yes, you'll need to kill the main service to the house and replace the AFCI breaker with a standard breaker.

Sorry about that, I was getting the information from my wife over the phone, I had not even looked at the problem yet. The plug in question is a regular plug that runs to an AFCI breaker.

[This message has been edited by Bassmaster (edited 9/1/2011 11:31a).]

If you replace the AFCI circuit breaker with a regular one, you'll need to pay attention to where the neutral wire lands. With a regular circuit breaker, you have the hot wire terminate at the breaker, and the neutral wire lands on the neutral bus bar. With the AFCI breaker, both the hot and the neutral are connected to the breaker (on separate terminals), and then there is a coiled pigtail that runs to the neutral bus bar.

Depending on where the neutral bus bar is in the panel, you might not have enough wire to reach it. If that's the case, you're gonna have to splice it.

Yes your are correct on replacing the breaker. The AFCI part is in the panel and covers all of the outlets in the bedroom.

So you can go buy the same brand and amperage breaker in the non afci type. Kill the main breaker, disconnect the wire, pop in the new one, connect the black to the new breaker and the white to the neutral bus bar.

I see lots of houses where the AFCI is still laying in the bottom of the panel, to be replaced if needed.



[This message has been edited by Absolute (edited 9/1/2011 11:50a).]

Great, thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it!

We just moved into a brand new house and our warranty consultant mentioned the treadmill issue specifically. She said there is an adapter you can buy - she couldn't remember the name of it, but would email me the info. I just sent off the email,so I'll post when I get the answer.

That would be great info to have. thanks!

I would appreciate that info as well. I already switched out the AFCI to a regular circuit, but if there is an adapter, I would go back and replace the AFCI and use the adapter.

She's recommending a surge protector called Surgetrap - made by Eaton - looks to be about $60 online. Said it works really well.

From another board

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Just adding my own personal experience with a similar problem, in case this information is of any use to others in the future. I'm not claiming to be any expert, just a homeowner who has spent a lot of time researching this issue online.

I've had a Sole F80 treadmill for over 3 years - works great, never had any problems. I lived in a 1992-built house, and the treadmill receptacle was on a normal 15-amp circuit. Then I moved in 2010 to a new house. The house was built in 2008, and the original builder also finished off a 3rd floor bonus room in 2010 (using the same electrician). All the bedroom and bonus room circuits have 15 amp AFCI circuit breakers (everything is Eaton Cutler Hammer), per the code since it's a new house. My treadmill trips those AFCI circuits (15 amps, AFCI) every time - I have it on the 3rd floor, but I also ran an extension cord to various other recepticles on the 3rd and 2nd floors with the same result. It worked fine only if I ran an extension cord downstairs to a non-AFCI circuit, but that's not a realistic solution as I have small children and a wife who doesn't want to see extension cords strung all over the house. My builder's electrician told me I was out of luck, that he's seen motor-based equipment like treadmills trip AFCI circuits, and there's nothing he can do since the code prevents him from putting a non-AFCI circuit in. Fair enough, I can't ask him to risk his license...but I'm not about to write off a $1500 treadmill.

So I did a lot of reading online about others who had similar problems. I found several instances where people had put SOMETHING in between the treadmill and the receptacle that solved the problem. In some cases, that SOMETHING was just an extension cord; in other cases, it was a portable GFCI (don't understand that one, as treadmills should also trip a GFCI); and in other cases it was a surge supressor. The working theory is that whatever that SOMETHING is, it somehow masks or filters the treadmill's arcing signal (arcing because that's how a treadmill motor works) enough that the AFCI doesn't trip over it. I finally had luck by putting a specific surge supressor in between the treadmill and the AFCI receptacle. Run-of-the-mill power strips didn't work. Next a surge supressor with a 'noise filter' didn't work - that 'filter' was EMI/RFI noise reduction of up to 42 decibels, according to the packaging. Being stubborn and house-poor, I tried one last filter before resorting to expensive electrical re-work. The last filter was designed for home theater, with a stated EMI/RFI filter of up to 75 decibels, from a frequency range of 150kHz to 1MHz. It was a Belkin brand. I've also seen a Tripp-Lite brand (ISOBAR models) that has similar EMI/RFI filtering, but I couldn't find that in stock locally. So if you've got a similar problem, pay close attention to the level of EMI filtering in a surge supressor, and look for something better than 40 decibels.

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