With NAHB Support, a Big Win in the Electrical Code Over Nuisance Tripping
A coalition of HVAC manufacturers and home builders has won an appeal to remove certain requirements in the 2020 National Electric Code (NEC) that were causing air conditioner units to trip due to an incompatibility of equipment.
The appeal was led by Air Conditioning Contractors of America, Leading Builders of America and the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, and was strongly supported by NAHB.
NAHB played an integral role as this issue developed, from a presence on the NEC code-making panel to drafting the substantiation for an amending motion. NAHB continued to bring the problem of incompatibility to the attention of code developers throughout the NEC development process.
At issue was section 210.8(F) of the 2020 NEC that requires a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) breaker to be installed on connections between a new home’s electrical system and the air conditioning condenser unit – the part of the HVAC system that resides outside.