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Our refrigerator was previously in our house and worked fine. We moved it to the garage which has gfci outlets. The refrigerator will run for around 8 to 10 hours and then trip the gfci outlet. Sometimes it runs less. Once it trips and i reset the outlet, it instantly trips the outlet again unless i plug it into a standard outlet. I have had two separate repair people out from two different companies and they both said the fridge is fine. They suspect that the gfci is just tripping. I changed the gfci and it still does it. One of the repairmen recommended that i change the outlet to a standard outlet and said that a refrigerator shouldn't be on a gfci. From what i have read, this is against code. But i am not sure if it is or what to do. Does this seem possible or could there be an underlying problem that two people have not found?
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Joined: 7/27/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,395  Location: near the middle of nowhere Was thanked: 24 time(s) in 24 post(s)
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I've seen this before. I couldn't find an answer That I was 100% sure of.
I'm pretty sure it trips during defrost and my theory goes like this. Either the element or wiring gets just damp enough that it causes the GFI to trip.
The one I worked on, only had problems on a GFI circuit. On a standard plugin it worked just fine.
There was no voltage to the shell and it tested normally in every way.
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Thank you for the reply. That was the first repair persons theory as well. He said that it was just getting damp and causing it to trip. I put it on a standard outlet and it ran for 6 hours and didn't have any issues. I unplugged it when i left just to be safe. Do you think it would be safe to assume that if it runs for that long, it will be OK if i left it plugged in?
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Rank: Member
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Sorry, i think i replied wrong and i wasn't sure if you would be notified.
Thank you for the reply. That was the first repair persons theory as well. He said that it was just getting damp and causing it to trip. I put it on a standard outlet and it ran for 6 hours and didn't have any issues. I unplugged it when i left just to be safe. Do you think it would be safe to assume that if it runs for that long, it will be OK if i left it plugged in?
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I know this thread is a bit dated, however my guess is that your ice maker is turned on in the freezer. And since it's in your garage, I'm guessing you aren't running a water line to it. Thus the ice maker is trying to draw water and failing thus sending the out of sync current to the gfi/gfci. If you disable the ice maker I'm guessing it will work again without tripping
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My refrigerator started tripping the GFCI when my standard outlet was hooked up to a GFCI. The ice maker is still hooked up to water, but I removed the bin that holds the ice since I didn't want it to melt if the refrigerator tripped the GFCI and I did not notice it. So I don't think my issue is related to the ice maker. The defrost theory seems reasonable. I guess I will just try to install a standard outlet again for the refrigerator circuit. Thanks. This really did help me.
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Joined: 8/31/2021(UTC) Posts: 0 Location: New York
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I found GFCI's with an audible alarm when they trip to help to know when these things happen.
If once it trips, it trips constantly, you need to use a ohm-meter on the plug as and see if there is any continuity between ground and hot or neutral. That's what causes the GFCI to trip. If you see it, then you need to follow the circuit and figure out what component is responsible. It could very well be a neutral-ground short and the GFCI is doing its job.
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