You may never do anything with your garage other than park your car in it, while others may use it as a workshop, and still, others will use it as the base for all of their laundry. Some people may choose to do a combination of those things. The point is, at any given time, there may or may not be a high level of power consumption in the garage, so does it need an Arc Fault Breaker?
There is nothing in the NEC concerning an Arc Fault Breaker in the garage. In fact, new homes require AFCI protection in all of the 15A and 20A branch circuits throughout the home, with the exception of the garage, attic, crawl space, and outdoor receptacles.
If you do a lot of work in the garage, especially with high-powered tools, and include garage door openers, smart devices, TVs, or anything else that requires power, it makes sense that you might consider AFCI protection in your garage, however, it would have to be installed post-construction.
Where is AFCI Protection Required?
The NEC is pretty clear about where in the home AFCI protection is required. According to their own website, “All 120-volt, single-phase, 15- and 20-ampere branch circuits supplying outlets or devices installed in dwelling unit kitchens, family rooms, dining rooms, living rooms, parlors, libraries, dens, bedrooms, sunrooms, recreation rooms, closets, hallways, laundry areas, or similar rooms or areas shall be protected by AFCIs.”
Notice, none of that includes garages, at least not yet. However, the reasoning behind not including garages is a bit unclear, especially in light of what AFCI protection is designed to help protect you from, which is a house fire.
AFCI receptacles and breakers are designed to detect whether or not there is a spark or an “arc” coming from wires that may be corroded, lost their insulation, or otherwise compromised. An AFCI receptacle will cut the power if an arc is detected, keeping the wires from lighting anything on fire.
When Did the AFCI Protection Come Into Play?
AFCI protection started only with bedrooms, as the NEC code was updated in 1999 and it stayed that way for all of 15 years. In 2014, the NEC was updated to also include “general” outlets in all of the living spaces throughout the home.
Since a garage is not considered to be a living space, that’s probably one of the reasons why it got left off of the table. AFCI protection extends to both circuit breakers and outlets, however, you don’t often see it used in both at the same time.
Also, you won’t find much in the way of AFCI in older homes, as the NEC’s rules on the matter didn’t start being instituted into homes until new construction after 2017. Odds are, if you are worried about AFCI in your garage, you probably don’t have it anywhere else, with the possible exception of the bedroom.
Should You Have AFCI in the Garage?
It really depends on what you are going to be doing in the garage and the level of safety that you want in there. By default, everything is already GFCI protected but not necessarily AFCI.
It also matters whether or not you are an electrician, because a DIY AFCI breaker install should be out of the question for anyone else.
The rules for electrical installation in a garage are pretty simple. In many cases, you may find that there is only one, standard outlet in a garage because the NEC manual calls for outlets every 6’ in living spaces, for which the garage doesn’t qualify.
So you may not have much to work with from the get-go. Also, it will generally cost you between $30 and $50 to purchase an AFCI breaker on top of whatever the cost is to have it installed. You will also need a breaker for any branch circuits.
If you are just wanting something for the outlets in the garage, a single AFCI breaker would probably do the trick. Lastly, you will have to deal with potential issues that crop up from trying to install an AFCI post construction, rather than as the home was being constructed. However, there is another option.
AFCI Receptacles
Anytime you plug something into a power outlet, you are plugging it into a GFCI receptacle and AFCI if your home is relatively new. While installing an AFCI breaker can be seriously problematic in an older home, you could always go around installing AFCI receptacles instead.
Seeing as the primary focus is the garage, it shouldn’t be much of a problem to shut the breaker down for the garage and go through it, completely replacing all of your old GFCI outlets with AFCI outlets.
You don’t even really have to replace all of the outlets with AFCI. If you know where the first outlet is on the circuit, installing your AFCI outlet there will give you downstream AFCI protection on the rest of your outlets, which should already have GFCI, adding a layer of protection with both.
The circuit that runs from your older, GFCI breakers to the first receptacle, however, will always lack AFCI protection unless you have the breaker replaced.
Installing an AFCI outlet is no different than installing a GFCI outlet, however, it’s important to still follow the instructions on the label and ensure that you cut off the right breaker before you begin.
If you start installing an AFCI and happened to shut off the wrong breaker, you might not get an opportunity to enjoy the benefits of AFCI protection. If you live in an older home, it honestly wouldn’t hurt to do more than just the garage or, at the very least, replace the first outlet on every circuit.
All Things Considered
No matter the age of your house, AFCI is not required in a garage, at least not yet. That will probably change over time because a garage may not be a living space, but some people probably use more power in their garage than anywhere else in the house.
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