Question about a new code rule I saw in a Chicago high rise

I was working on a retrofit in a 40 story building in Chicago last week and saw they now require arc fault breakers on every single lighting circuit, even in the hallways. The building manager said it's a new city rule for anything over 30 floors. I get the safety part, but the cost and box space for that many AFCI units seems huge. Has anyone else run into this in other big cities?

2 comments

2 Comments

ruby4502d ago

That's a huge change, did they say if it's just for new work or does it apply to retrofits too? The box space issue is real, those AFCI units are bulky. I'm curious if the rule is about the height or the building age.

leelewis2d ago

From what I've seen, the new rule usually only hits new construction and major rewires. Retrofits get a pass unless you're messing with that specific box. The bulk is the real headache, you're right about that. I've had to swap out old boxes just to fit the deeper AFCI before. The trigger is the building age, not the outlet height, which catches a lot of folks off guard.