Convincing the Circuit Breaker Industry to Improve its Products

Forensic engineer Rick Franklin has investigated 2,000 building fires throughout his career. In 1990, he published an article titled, “Circuit Breakers: The Myth of Safety,” in Professional Safety produced by the American Society of Safety Engineers. In this article, Rick advocated for more sensitive common circuit breakers.

In the video below, Rick demonstrates that a power cord can arc over 30 times and for two minutes before popping a common circuit breaker. Any one of these arcs could have ignited a nearby combustible material, thereby starting a fire.

In 1993, the circuit breaker industry responded by greatly reducing magnetic trip levels. Rick’s article also called for circuit breakers to be made with a computer chip inside, providing 100 percent protection. The resulting product is an arcing fault circuit interrupter, or AFCI, which detects hazardous arcing and shuts off electricity to the location, thus preventing ignition from occurring. AFCI’s became code in 2008 and have been found effective by Consumer Product Safety Commission engineers.

In his 30-minute AFCI seminar, Rick demonstrates what AFCI’s mean for fire investigators.

"You presented your findings with substantial authority, and I believe your testimony was very helpful to the jury."

--General Motors attorney after winning trial