AFCI Circuit Breakers - Is Technology Making Us Less Competent?

Automobile maintenance got too complex for most do-it-yourselfers. The same has been happening with some home repairs. With home electrical, it just got trickier -- with the requirement of "arc-fault protection" for most areas of the house.

An arc-fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) is a special circuit breaker in your electrical panel designed to sense arcing (sparking) that might present a fire hazard.

These have been required for bedroom areas of homes built since 2002. Beginning in 2008 they are also required to cover most other areas -- except those that must already have ground-fault (GFCI) protection. Because AFCI devices have some ground-fault sensing also built into them, it looks like the AFCI is the wave of the future in home electrical safety technology, perhaps replacing GFCI devices as well as regular breakers.

Should you welcome this as a good safety net, or do you wonder if it is part of a sticky spider web, brought to you by manufacturers, insurance companies, and regulatory engineers? I won't answer that for you or try to give statistics. What I will do here is point out what a homeowner is up against if one of these new breakers should happen to trip off.

Standard old fuses and circuit breakers would blow or trip for three possible causes.

Two of these were common and familiar to most people:

1. Either electrical usage was excessive (an overload)...

2. Or current was trying to get way out of control from wires faulting (a "short").

Many homeowners could handle the troubleshooting needed to solve these conditions. (The third problem has to do with poor connections right at the fuse or breaker, which overheat it and make it blow when it wouldn't otherwise.)

An arc-fault breaker will trip for any of these same problems, but in addition it will trip for some ground-faults and for arc-faults.

If an AFCI trips, how will you know what sort of cause you are looking for? Will you have to become more dependent on professionals from the industries that dreamed these things up?

In general and in a nutshell:

*An overload (or an overheating breaker) will correspond to heavier usage;

*A short or ground-fault will tend to continue to trip the AFCI very soon after you reset it;

*An arc-fault will tend not to repeat the tripping soon, since the conditions for an arc to get going do not often persist after the arc is stopped by the tripping.

If an arcing condition does exist somewhere on such an AFCI circuit, you may have to put up with the nuisance of the occasional tripping, till it goes away or is solved. But do not get freaked, as if something is going to start a fire.

That is the whole point of these AFCIs -- no such fire will have a chance to start.

And that is the point of many products in our life today -- after hazards have been publicized enough, we will comfort ourselves by buying these things that seem to foolproof life. I hope we are not fools in the process.

Larry Dimock is The Circuit Detective, a master electrician and electrical troubleshooting contractor in the state of Washington. His website is filled with home electrical troubleshooting information and tips. He also gives advice from there, to homeowners around the country, on their specific circuit problems. See http://www.thecircuitdetective.com

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How I Make Sales 24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week

For years now, I've been playing a game with my kids. It's called "Guess What Daddy's Doing!" and it goes like this: I could be at a restaurant with my family, at a basketball game, driving down the road, standing in line somewhere, laying on the couch, or playing a video game (I'm a big 'Rock Band' fan). Sometimes, I might actually be working!

Every once in a while, without warning, I'll turn to one of the kids and say, "Hey! Guess what Daddy's doing!" Of course, now they already know the answer and they pretty much roll their eyes at me when I ask, but it's still fun.

Can you guess the answer?

The answer is: "Making money!"

No matter where I am... No matter what time it is... No matter what I'm actually doing at the time... I could be on vacation, at the beach, sitting at my desk, coaching basketball, playing music... it just doesn't matter. I am making money 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

How do I do that? I use AutoResponders to generate, manage, and follow up with my sales leads.

AutoResponders are quickly catching on with online marketers as a "must have" tool for success. And it's easy to see why. They make life and sales much easier.

The simplest way to understand AutoResponders is to think of them as a system that automatically responds to requests for information. You can set up your AutoResponder to send out sales messages, follow-up messages, price updates, training information, special announcements, weekly articles, and more.

My favorite way to use AutoResponders is as my personal sales assistant.

As my advertising works for me around the world and around the clock, I am receiving requests for more information. Some days, it may be a couple of requests here and there. Other days, it can be dozens of requests. I love what I do for a living but the thought of managing and replying to each request one at a time would just be insane.

Instead, I let my AutoResonder handle it. Here's how it works for me:

My websites all have a form that visitors can fill out to request more information from me. When someone fills out my form, my AutoResponder collects their information.

The first thing my AutoResponder does when it receives their information is send a confirmation request to their email address. This protects me from spam complaints and makes sure that the person whose email address is entered in to the form really wants my info.

Once the new prospect confirms that they do want to receive my information, my AutoResponder sends my first sales message out to them. The message is personalized with the prospect's name. This helps my messages get through and helps me build credibility and rapport with my prospects.

From there my AutoResponder will continue sending follow-up messages to my prospects every few days.

The best part about this system is that it's all 100 percent automated. Once I set up my messages, the AutoResponder just handles all my follow-up and list management tasks. All of my sales messages include information on how to order. Most of my customers just place their order directly without ever actually talking to me. Every once in a while, a prospect may email me with a question. It takes me just a moment or two to answer a question when the prospect is already familiar with me and my offer.

My AutoResponder works on autopilot. I don't have to remember to send a follow-up message. I don't have to remember which message is next or when. I don't have to worry about managing the list. If someone wants off my list, they just click a convenient link and they're gone. Meanwhile, as prospects are responding to my ad, my AutoResponder just keeps working like a little personal sales assistant.

And the best part? My assistant never talks back, never complains, never calls in sick, never asks for a raise, and never forgets to do their job! Now THAT is what I call a good assistant!

Brian Rooney is the co-founder of TrafficWave.net LLC. TrafficWave.net provides AutoResponder and AdTracking services to thousands of clients from more than 60 countries. Request Brian's Free Report: "Boost Sales With AutoResponder Technology online at http://www.trafficwave.net

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