AFCI and GFCI by Location in a Dwelling

Why this matters

Two sections decide where a dwelling's circuits need protection, and they are organized differently: NEC 210.8(A) lists GFCI locations for receptacles, NEC 210.12(A) lists AFCI rooms for whole 120 V circuits. An electrician who carries one list in their head tends to apply it to the other, and the inspection comes back with a bathroom on an AFCI that did not need it and a laundry dryer receptacle without the GFCI it did. This card is the location map for one house, room by room, under the 2023 edition as adopted, with the places the 2020 edition differs marked.

Two lists, two different subjects

GFCI, 210.8(A). In a dwelling, the 2023 edition (as adopted by your jurisdiction) requires GFCI protection for personnel, the 5 mA type, on all 125 V through 250 V receptacles in its listed locations when the receptacle is supplied by a single-phase branch circuit rated 150 V or less to ground. Note what that covers and what it does not:

• Receptacles, not whole circuits. A bathroom light on the same circuit needs nothing; the receptacle does.
• Up to 250 V and with no amperage limit in the dwelling list. A 30 A dryer receptacle in a laundry area and a 50 A range receptacle in a 2023 kitchen are inside the rule. This widening came in the 2020 edition; before it, only 125 V 15 and 20 A receptacles were covered.
• The 5 mA personnel type. A 30 mA equipment ground-fault device does not satisfy 210.8.

Other GFCI rules sit outside 210.8(A): 210.8(C) in the 2023 edition (210.8(E) in 2020) covers lighting outlets not over 120 V in crawl spaces; 210.8(F) covers outdoor outlets other than receptacles on circuits up to 50 A, which is what reaches an air-conditioning condenser; and the 2023 edition moved the dishwasher requirement (210.8(D) in 2020) to 422.5, which lists the appliances that need GFCI protection whatever room they are in.

AFCI, 210.12(A). The 2023 edition requires AFCI protection on 120 V, single-phase, 10, 15 and 20 A branch circuits (10 A circuits were added in 2023) supplying outlets or devices in kitchens, family rooms, dining rooms, living rooms, parlors, libraries, dens, bedrooms, sunrooms, recreation rooms, closets, hallways, laundry areas, and similar rooms or areas. Note the differences from the GFCI rule:

• Whole circuits, and every outlet on them, lighting and smoke alarms included. If a circuit has one outlet in a bedroom, the circuit needs AFCI protection.
• 120 V, 10, 15 and 20 A only. A 240 V dryer circuit and a 40 A range circuit are outside it.
• Bathrooms, garages, outdoors, crawl spaces and unfinished basements are not on the list. A finished basement used as a family or recreation room is.

How the protection is provided (combination breaker, outlet-branch-circuit device, dual-function breaker or receptacle) is a separate question: see related 'GFCI, AFCI, and DFCI Protection Selection by NEC Article'. What triggers AFCI on a remodel or circuit extension is in 'AFCI Requirement Check on a Remodel'. This card answers only "does this location need it."

The map

A one-story house on a crawl space with an attached garage. "AFCI+GFCI" means the circuit needs AFCI and the receptacles in that room need GFCI.

+-----------+-------------+--------------+-------------+
| GARAGE    | LAUNDRY     | KITCHEN      | DINING      |
| GFCI      | AFCI+GFCI   | AFCI+GFCI    | AFCI        |
| no AFCI   | dryer: GFCI | fridge: both |             |
|           +------+------+--------------+-------------+
|           | BATH | HALL | LIVING, WET BAR SINK       |
|           | GFCI | AFCI | AFCI; GFCI 6 ft from sink  |
+-----------+------+------+--------+-------------------+
            | BED 1       | CLOSET | BED 2             |
            | AFCI        | AFCI   | AFCI              |
            +-------------+--------+-------------------+
OUTDOORS: GFCI at receptacles; condenser per 210.8(F)
CRAWL SPACE: GFCI at lights; receptacles at/below grade

Reading the edges of the map:

• Garage. GFCI on every receptacle, including the ceiling receptacle for the door opener; there is no single-receptacle exception for it in current editions. No AFCI requirement, because a garage is not on the 210.12(A) list.
• Laundry. AFCI on the 120 V washer circuit because laundry areas are on 210.12(A). GFCI on the washer receptacle and, since 2020, on the 240 V dryer receptacle. The dryer circuit needs no AFCI because it is not 120 V.
• Kitchen. In the 2023 edition, GFCI on all kitchen receptacles, including the refrigerator's. In the 2020 edition the kitchen item covered only receptacles serving countertop surfaces, so a refrigerator receptacle behind the unit needed AFCI but not GFCI. That one line is the most common edition question on an inspection.
• Living room wet bar. AFCI because the circuit serves a living room. GFCI on receptacles within 6 ft of the top inside edge of the sink bowl, under the sinks item; receptacles on the far wall of the room do not need it.
• Bath. GFCI, no AFCI. A bathroom receptacle circuit that also feeds a hallway light becomes an AFCI circuit because of the hallway outlet.
• Crawl space. Receptacles under the crawl space item, which reaches crawl spaces at or below grade level, and lighting outlets under 210.8(C) (210.8(E) in 2020).

Worked example: the circuit schedule for this house

The panel schedule is where the map becomes breakers. Here is the house as an electrician would schedule it, with the protection each circuit needs and why. "2023" means the 2023 edition as adopted; where the 2020 answer differs it is given.

Count what that schedule asks for: seven circuits need AFCI protection (two counter circuits, refrigerator, dishwasher, washer, the bedroom-closet-hall circuit and the living-dining circuit, none of them 240 V) and, under the 2023 edition, twelve circuits carry at least one GFCI-protected outlet, with the condenser open to the exception discussed next. Under the 2020 edition the refrigerator and range receptacle drop off the GFCI count, leaving ten. Where a circuit needs both, the dual-function device decision belongs to the selection card.

The condenser. 210.8(F) arrived in the 2020 edition and caught air-conditioning equipment, whose inverter drives and compressor windings produced nuisance trips on early installs. The 2023 edition carries an exception for listed HVAC equipment that was written to expire in 2026, in substance; check the exact wording and expiry in your edition and whether your state amended 210.8(F) out or delayed it. Some states did. This is the clearest case on the card where the model code and the adopted code are not the same thing.

What the map does not tell you

• Your adopted edition and its amendments. A state adopting the 2020 edition with amendments may delete the AFCI requirement for some rooms or retain older GFCI wording. The map is the model code; the permit is the adopted code. Check the amendments before quoting a job.
• A finished basement. Under both editions basements need GFCI on receptacles, finished or not (the unfinished-only wording last appeared in the 2017 edition). A finished basement used as a family room also brings AFCI, and a basement bedroom brings it for certain.
• A receptacle supplying only a fire alarm or security panel. In substance, the basement item carries an exception for a receptacle serving only a permanently installed fire alarm or burglar alarm system; check the current edition for its exact scope before relying on it.
• Replacements. Replacing a receptacle in a location that now requires GFCI generally triggers GFCI protection for the replacement under 406.4(D), and the AFCI side of a replacement has its own rule in the same section. Both are in the remodel card cited above.

When the protection is installed: proving it

Test every GFCI and AFCI device after installation with its own test button, then confirm the trip with a plug-in tester on GFCI-protected receptacles downstream of the device. A GFCI receptacle that trips on its button but leaves a downstream receptacle live has the downstream cable landed on its LINE terminals, or (on an older device without reverse-line lockout) line and load swapped. Installing any of these devices means working in a panel or box, so make it dead first: turn off the circuit, lock it out and verify absence of voltage with a CAT III or better meter proven on a known live source before and after, per NFPA 70E Article 120 (120.5 in the 2021 edition, renumbered in 2024) and 29 CFR 1910.333(b)(2). When the breaker goes back on, stand to the side of the panel rather than in front of it, and confirm every outlet on the circuit works before you leave.

References

• NFPA 70, National Electrical Code, 2023 edition as adopted by your jurisdiction (2020 where noted): 210.8(A), 210.8(C), 210.8(F), 210.12(A), 406.4(D), 422.5
• NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace, current edition, Article 120; 29 CFR 1910.333(b)(2)
• See related: GFCI, AFCI, and DFCI Protection Selection by NEC Article
• See related: AFCI Requirement Check on a Remodel