Hello,
I’m looking to power our fridge on a generator if the power goes out for over a day. We recently lost power for a few days but the food was all right since the temperature inside the house dropped to 45 degrees after the first day. I’m worried about summer time temps though.
Generator specs: 1,500 running watts and 2,000 surge watts.
Refrigerator: Frigidaire FPES19BDL1
Using an inductive ammeter meter the fridge pulls 19.5 amps on startup, 2.5 amps running.
Fridge has no issues starting on regular power.
What I’m hoping is there is a way to temporary install a device to help start the compressor ONLY when I have the generator powering it. I would manually install and remove the device via the wiring in the back when the power goes out. The fridge has no issues starting on regular power and it sounds like leaving a device hooked up might damage the compressor if used when not needed.
When starting the fridge on generator power the fridge fan turns on and I hear a relay click and 1 second later unclick but the compressor doesn’t get running. The cycle repeats every 30 seconds or so and I stopped trying after the 4 retry to let things cool down and avoid damage. The voltage drops from 120VAC to 95 when the compressor tries to start with no other load on the generator using a 12 gauge wire to power the fridge.
Going off the fridge ID plate, I see an 89 in the model number. I think that is generally about when the fridge was purchased, 1989? or roughly there about at least as we recollect.
Compressor info:
Made in Italy
ESM8 R12 2,8FLA 25LRA 115 VAC
60Hz Single-phase
Thermally protected
30061
I read online and it sounds like there is some devices that might help the fridge start easier… but I’m not sure what to buy?
Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.
Fride ID plate2.jpg (117.2 KB)
fridge - comp ID.jpg (143.5 KB)
fridge - back dirty2.jpg (187.3 KB)
fridge - side of comp wiring2.jpg (150.3 KB)