I just bought a new refrigerator and have connected my previous copper water line to the appliance. It seemed leak-free, but about an hour after we pushed the fridge back in place we noticed a very tiny puddle so I pulled it out and started over this time using pipe threading (??) and thought that worked. It once again seemed okay so I pushed it back in place again….wrong. It still had a drop or two showing up. Since I've pulled it out from the wall, it looks dry again. Did I tighten it too much? Did I not use the white tape properly (I only wrapped it once and this is my first time using the stuff)? Can I use more of it or something else? Any suggestions would help. Thanks.
Copper water line connection to fridge has a very tiny leak. How to fix it
connectorsrefrigerator
Related Solutions
Congratulations, you've just stumbled upon the secret self-destruct feature that all manufacturers design into their appliances... NOT! (^-^)
There is no setting of a refrigerator's controls that will "overload" a refrigerator (barring extremely abnormal operating conditions). It would certainly not flicker like that.
Believe it or not, manufacturers don't like to have customer complaints and returns, it's bad for business. If there was such a defect, lawyers would be all over it, too.
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With one exception, the warmer the fridge/freezer is set, the less it works and it will not overload.
Not counting the energy lost to opening the door, or to the initial cooling of warm things, the energy a refrigerator requires is roughly:
(RoomTemp - FridgeTemp) * The compartment's surface area
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The average R-value of the fridge's insulation
The R-value and the surface area are fixed by the unit's design (with one exception). So it should be obvious that raising the FridgeTemp lowers the required energy.
For example, suppose your refrigerator compartment is 26 by 27 by 38 (inches) and the average R-value is R-19 (US, not SI). Assume a constant, summer-time room-temp of 76°F.
Then, a fridge set to 34°F would use roughly:
(76°F - 34°F) × (2×26×27 + 2×26×38 + 2×27×38)(inches²)(ft²/144 inches²)
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19 (ft²×°F×hour/Btu)
= about 83 BTU/hour or about 24 watts.
Set the fridge to 40°F and it drops down to 71 Btu/hour (21 watts).
See R-value (insulation) for more information.
The exceptions:
If a freezer is a frost-free model, it uses extra energy to stay frost free. On many models this just runs off a timer, so the temperature-setting has little effect on how much energy is used. On smarter models, the energy use increases with the room's humidity and how often the door is opened plus how full the box is (fuller is better).
If a freezer is not a frost-free model, and ice builds up. This decreases the effective surface area and increases the effective R-value. So, the unit uses less energy, but items in the box usually remain too warm, too long -- leading to greatly increased spoilage, poor ice making, etc.
Residential Kitchen
In a dwelling unit (residential), GFCI protection is only required for kitchen receptacles that serve the countertop surfaces. There's no requirement to GFCI protect receptacles that serve a refrigerator. Unless the fridge is plugged into a countertop receptacle.
National Electrical Code 2014
Chapter 2 Wiring and Protection
Article 210 Branch Circuits
I. General Provisions
210.8 Ground-Fault Circuit-Interrupter Protection for Personnel. Ground-fault circuit-interrupter protection for personnel shall be provided as required in 210.8(A) through (C). The ground-fault circuit-interrupter shall be installed in a readily accessible location.
(A) Dwelling Units. All 125-volt, single-phase, 15- and 20-ampere receptacles installed in the locations specified in 210.8(A)(1) through (10) shall have ground-fault circuit interrupter protection for personnel.
(6) Kitchens— where the receptacles are installed to serve the countertop surfaces.
Garages, Unfinished Basement, and Other Locations
If the refrigerator is in a garage, boathouse, or unfinished basement. All the receptacles are required to be GFCI protected, so the fridge will have to be plugged into a GFCI protected receptacle.
Why does the fridge trip the GFCI?
Any inductive load when switched off, can produce electromagnetic interference (EMI). This interference can, and often does, trip GFCI devices. Most vapor compression refrigerators have a few inductive loads, any of which could cause the trip.
Is there anything that can be done?
There are devices called snubbers that can be used to reduce, or eliminate the effects of EMI. Installing one between the fridge and the GFCI device, could prevent nuisance trips. The best solution though, is to connect the fridge to a non-GFCI protected circuit.
If that's all it takes, why isn't there already one built in?
While most (all) manufacturers are aware that refrigerators can cause nuisance tripping of GFCI devices, most (none) seem willing to provide a solution. It would be complete speculation for me to try and tell you why they don't care, so of course I'll go through a few possibilities.
- Cost.
Plain and simple, it costs money to implement a solution. - Warranties and Operating Conditions.
Most refrigerators are designed to operate in a kitchen. Running them in dusty, dirty garages and basements could lead to more warranty covered repairs.
Related Topic
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Best Answer
Your question doesn't mention where you're located, but I'll speculate USA and from that infer that you're working with 1/4" tubing and a compression fitting -- this is the most common arrangement for refrigerator water supply in the US.
Here is a photo to give names to the parts you're probably working with. I didn't have any copper tube on hand; the blue tube is polyethylene plastic instead. It's shown with a white plastic (Delrin/acetal) ferrule and a brass insert. Your copper tube should have a brass ferrule like the one shown loose in the photo. The brass insert is used only with plastic tubing.
The compression fitting is designed to seal dry, ie without the white Teflon tape or pipe joint compound. It can leak if there's debris in the joint, if it's not assembled square, if a part (usually the ferrule) is nicked, or if it's overtightened.
If a leaky compression fitting can't be resolved by cleaning the mating faces and carefully re-assembling, usually the next step is to cut off that last inch or so of the tube, slide a new ferrule onto the tube, and assemble again. Plastic tube can be cut with a knife but your copper tube should be cut with a proper tubing cutter.
Some say that wiping a bit of pipe joint compound on the ferrule can help seal a small leak. Maybe it can; I haven't tried it -- it seems a bit of a hack and I've always preferred to trim the tube and install a new ferrule instead.