The code requires new construction to have dedicated A/C outlets. AFAIK it doesn’t require you to add them when you buy an A/C. I’m not sure about how the AFCI law is interpreted in bedrooms, but if you are required to use an AFCI even for a dedicated A/C outlet then it you must wire it directly without an outlet because AFCI’s are not compatible with anything that uses a lot of power like an A/C, a computer, a plasma TV, etc. If you are forced to use AFCI’s, do not plug table lamps into outlets on the same circuit as any other device, doing so is dangerous.
To explain…
GFCI’s trigger whenever the power being delivered on the hot wire deviates from the power being sent back on the neutral. This happens for two reasons, either the device has shorted out and is sending the power back on ground or the device’s power factor has deviates far from 1.0 and the power draw has suddenly changed. Because most electronics, including CFL lights have a power factor of 0.8 or less GFCI’s are not allowed to be used for lights, nor for medical equipment because the if they were used in these cases the GFCI’s would kill a lot more people than they saved. This is why GFCI protected outlets must be labeled if they are not self evidently GFCI outlets; plugging a table lamp into a GFCI outlet is statistically thousands of times more likely to kill you via a trip and fall than it is to save your life.
AFCI’s trigger whenever the power draw changes quickly and also have a built in GFCI. The AFCI trigger happens when there is a short circuit between the hot and neutral or when you turn something on or off. If every bedroom in NYC had AFCI protection it would prevent a fatal fire every few decades. The problem with AFCI’s is that they based on something on the circuit being turned on or off. So they need to have high enough trigger thresholds to avoid being triggered whenever you turn something on or off or plug or unplug something, but low enough trigger thresholds to avoid fires. The AFCI manufacturers have gotten this to work with low power devices like alarm clocks and even small television sets and Pass and Seymore even has a proprietary AFCI that will work with dimmer switches with incandescent light bulbs (this should become generally available shortly after the patent expires in 2023.) But it is impossible for code compatible AFCI’s to work with devices that draw a lot of power, because any way you cut it 5 amps or more is enough to burn a house down and these devices draw 5 to 20 amps.
Note 1: You could build AFCI’s that worked with large power draws if the devices communicated with the AFCI before they drew a lot of power, for example an A/C’s computer could turn send a digital signal to the AFCI’s computer to temporarily disable itself while the A/C turned on or off the compressor. But this is not contemplated in the current law and would require cooperation between many nations to actually implement.
Rant: The AFCI requirement is opposed by electrical engineers and most electricians for a few reasons. One because people plug lamps into the outlets in their bedrooms the law will likely kill many times more people than it will save. Also, these devices don’t work. And the another reason is that this is still a very new technology so the right to make these devices is still held by one company via a patent (a 20 year monopoly granted by the federal government.) I don’t know if the council passed this law because they didn’t understand how many people they would kill or because they got some very significant bribes from the patent holder or both. Considering the history of the city council it is difficult to determine which is most likely, but as a matter of principle I like to credit ignorance over malice unless proved wrong.
Not that it is necessarily unsafe not being on it’s own dedicated circuit, but NYC code does require it to be so, and also requires bedrooms to have archfault breakers (like a breaker with an additional GFI breaker built in) so it is even safer.
The AC spec will indicate how many amps it requires. You need to check your breaker panel and see how many amps it is (15? 20?) and do calculations to see if whatever else is serving that breaker is small appliances or large appliances and calculate if there is enough left over for your AC. An electrician should be able to calculate that for you if you can’t figure it out by Googling it.
Dude, that was way too long and complicated.
The code requires new construction to have dedicated A/C outlets. AFAIK it doesn’t require you to add them when you buy an A/C. I’m not sure about how the AFCI law is interpreted in bedrooms, but if you are required to use an AFCI even for a dedicated A/C outlet then it you must wire it directly without an outlet because AFCI’s are not compatible with anything that uses a lot of power like an A/C, a computer, a plasma TV, etc. If you are forced to use AFCI’s, do not plug table lamps into outlets on the same circuit as any other device, doing so is dangerous.
To explain…
GFCI’s trigger whenever the power being delivered on the hot wire deviates from the power being sent back on the neutral. This happens for two reasons, either the device has shorted out and is sending the power back on ground or the device’s power factor has deviates far from 1.0 and the power draw has suddenly changed. Because most electronics, including CFL lights have a power factor of 0.8 or less GFCI’s are not allowed to be used for lights, nor for medical equipment because the if they were used in these cases the GFCI’s would kill a lot more people than they saved. This is why GFCI protected outlets must be labeled if they are not self evidently GFCI outlets; plugging a table lamp into a GFCI outlet is statistically thousands of times more likely to kill you via a trip and fall than it is to save your life.
AFCI’s trigger whenever the power draw changes quickly and also have a built in GFCI. The AFCI trigger happens when there is a short circuit between the hot and neutral or when you turn something on or off. If every bedroom in NYC had AFCI protection it would prevent a fatal fire every few decades. The problem with AFCI’s is that they based on something on the circuit being turned on or off. So they need to have high enough trigger thresholds to avoid being triggered whenever you turn something on or off or plug or unplug something, but low enough trigger thresholds to avoid fires. The AFCI manufacturers have gotten this to work with low power devices like alarm clocks and even small television sets and Pass and Seymore even has a proprietary AFCI that will work with dimmer switches with incandescent light bulbs (this should become generally available shortly after the patent expires in 2023.) But it is impossible for code compatible AFCI’s to work with devices that draw a lot of power, because any way you cut it 5 amps or more is enough to burn a house down and these devices draw 5 to 20 amps.
Note 1: You could build AFCI’s that worked with large power draws if the devices communicated with the AFCI before they drew a lot of power, for example an A/C’s computer could turn send a digital signal to the AFCI’s computer to temporarily disable itself while the A/C turned on or off the compressor. But this is not contemplated in the current law and would require cooperation between many nations to actually implement.
Rant: The AFCI requirement is opposed by electrical engineers and most electricians for a few reasons. One because people plug lamps into the outlets in their bedrooms the law will likely kill many times more people than it will save. Also, these devices don’t work. And the another reason is that this is still a very new technology so the right to make these devices is still held by one company via a patent (a 20 year monopoly granted by the federal government.) I don’t know if the council passed this law because they didn’t understand how many people they would kill or because they got some very significant bribes from the patent holder or both. Considering the history of the city council it is difficult to determine which is most likely, but as a matter of principle I like to credit ignorance over malice unless proved wrong.
Not that it is necessarily unsafe not being on it’s own dedicated circuit, but NYC code does require it to be so, and also requires bedrooms to have archfault breakers (like a breaker with an additional GFI breaker built in) so it is even safer.
The AC spec will indicate how many amps it requires. You need to check your breaker panel and see how many amps it is (15? 20?) and do calculations to see if whatever else is serving that breaker is small appliances or large appliances and calculate if there is enough left over for your AC. An electrician should be able to calculate that for you if you can’t figure it out by Googling it.