I am purchasing a home (built 1987). I tend to be a very safety conscious person. And with a number of years of service as a volunteer firefighter, I know first-hand the deadly consequences of a house fire.

I'm planning to have some electrical work done in the home. When having this work done I was thinking about having some (if not most) of the breakers in the house upgraded to arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCIs). From my understanding they are safer and can reduce the risk of a fire due to arcing.

My Questions

1) Am I correct that circuit breakers can simply be replaced with AFCIs? Or are there additional electrical infrastructure changes needed?

2) Am I a crazy man (or a bit naive) for thinking of having this done?

Thanks.

The main concern is NOT to share the Neutral with another circuit, all loads must be on load side of AFCI.
Just run all circuits separate hots and neutrals.

ARCI are generally for bedrooms and GFCI for baths, kitchens and wet areas. Check you local building codes. You can try to install a ARCI in place of your existing breaker but like Startmando points out it won't work if the neutral has been shared with another circuit.

Thanks ballengerb and Stratmando. I appreciate the input.