GFCI/AFCI testing question

[Roy Guard]

It's been a looooooong week so maybe the brain is totally dead here... but here it goes:

- There is an office room at the front left of the house which is adjacent to the kitchen.

- When i was checking the office room's receptacle outlets with a 120V AC receptacle tester
with a GFCI push test button to see if there were any open ground, neutrals, etc., I
accidentally pushed the GFCI test button.

- I was surprised to see that all the outlets in the office were GFCI protected as they tripped
off when I pushed the test button.

Could it be possible that the office room's AFCIs could be tripped with a GFCI tester? Could this be an indication of an issue with the AFCIs?

Thanks for any insight!

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[Gary Burnett]

Roy, Sounds like they made the formal dining room an office. Since it is adjacent to the kitchen I think that's what happened. Dining rooms & breakfast nooks will have GFCI outlets in newer homes.
I think your tester is OK.

[Dom D'Agostino]

How did you restore power to the receptacle outlets in this room?

Some outlet testers will trip certain AFCI breakers. I thought that problem was old and forgotten, but who knows.

It's possible the breaker was a combo GFCI/AFCI breaker.

[Jim Robinson]

I would bet that it was protected with a GFCI device for some other reason. I have a few receptacles in my new house that are protected that aren't required just because it was easier to use a GFCI/AFCI combo breaker for the entire circuit instead of splitting them up with local GFCI protection.

[Bill Kriegh]

Some early, and some possibly current, AFCIs have a built-in GFCI that is not the "personal protection" variety. That is, they trip at a higher level but, they trip with the same tester.

These are not the same animal as an AFCI/GFCI combo breaker where the GFCI part of the breaker can be used to protect receptacles.

[Harry Janssen]

Some early, and some possibly current, AFCIs have a built-in GFCI that is not the "personal protection" variety. That is, they trip at a higher level but, they trip with the same tester.

These are not the same animal as an AFCI/GFCI combo breaker where the GFCI part of the breaker can be used to protect receptacles.

It can be a real issue at times,trying to figure out were the reset button is.

[Bill Kriegh]

The AFCI device is usually the breaker for the circuit.