Arc Fault Detection Device (AFDD) - Are you being installed?

Having cut myself on the bleeding edge of technology many times over the last 50 years I am not installing them unless specifically asked. As I am semi retired and most of my, as little as possible, work is domestic and agricultural I doubt that any of my customers have any idea what they are. 


Having read the posts on here and done a little research I am not convinced they are an improvement in safety compared with say metal consumer units ?. Their use in America where there is a different standard of wiring, lower voltages and higher currents may increase safety. But having read about the standard arc waveforms that are used in testing which have to exclude arcing from motors, switches etc I am having problems believing they are the solution to a very small potential issue in UK wiring systems. I also have an aversion to electronics in fixed wiring systems, while electronics can be made very reliable the small but significant number of modern RCDs I replace is indicative, to me, that in practice they are not. Please don't get me started on PIRs and LEDs. but they are not safety critical.


I await the comments from those who know far more than me and am perfectly happy to change my mind if there is a good argument or safety stats in their favour.


I suspect the amount of marketing I have seen for them is indicative of  marketing lead persuasion rather than the product being so good every one wants to have them, or am I being overly cynical in my old age ?

Having cut myself on the bleeding edge of technology many times over the last 50 years I am not installing them unless specifically asked. As I am semi retired and most of my, as little as possible, work is domestic and agricultural I doubt that any of my customers have any idea what they are. 


Having read the posts on here and done a little research I am not convinced they are an improvement in safety compared with say metal consumer units ?. Their use in America where there is a different standard of wiring, lower voltages and higher currents may increase safety. But having read about the standard arc waveforms that are used in testing which have to exclude arcing from motors, switches etc I am having problems believing they are the solution to a very small potential issue in UK wiring systems. I also have an aversion to electronics in fixed wiring systems, while electronics can be made very reliable the small but significant number of modern RCDs I replace is indicative, to me, that in practice they are not. Please don't get me started on PIRs and LEDs. but they are not safety critical.


I await the comments from those who know far more than me and am perfectly happy to change my mind if there is a good argument or safety stats in their favour.


I suspect the amount of marketing I have seen for them is indicative of  marketing lead persuasion rather than the product being so good every one wants to have them, or am I being overly cynical in my old age ?