Just finished my 500th service call for a tripped AFCI breaker

Uma Lopez · 2026-03-18T13:45:04.960427+00:00

It was always a loose neutral on a backstabbed outlet, every single time. Anyone else feel like they could diagnose that in their sleep now?

grace_knight706mo ago

Loose neutral on a backstabbed outlet" is basically the official diagnosis. I saw a forum post once where a guy said he just starts every AFCI call by checking every single outlet on the circuit for backstabs before he even looks at the panel. Saves him a ton of time.

4

christopher_sullivan6mo ago

Used to think it was overblown but now I check backstabs first every time.

3

cameron5386mo ago

My buddy had a call last week that was exactly what grace_knight70 said. He went straight to the outlets, found a backstab in the master bedroom that you could wiggle the wire right out of. Took him ten minutes total.

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