Electrical – Refrigerator on GFCI is tripping other AFCI breakers in the house

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This is going to sound really weird, but it has been going on for 6 years and the electricians that wired our house spent multiple days trying to figure it out before we found it was definitely the fridge, but no idea what or why.

When we open the door on our fridge (a 6 yr old Whirlpool model #WRF736SDAM11 French Door) it occasionally trips another AFCI circuit in our house. The circuit it trips used to jump all over the place, but is pretty consistent on which breaker it throws these days. The electricians went over all of the lines that were tied to the fridge, and to the other breakers that were tripping, but found no faults. They replaced outlets, breakers, switches, the lot with no result. It only happens when opening the door of the fridge.

I've read that the LED driver in this fridge could cause line noise, but I'm not sure how to verify that, and if so, how to go about resolving it. The fridge itself never trips the GFCI circuit it is on.

Best Answer

Because it happens when you open the door, it is more than likely caused by the light.

There seems to be a known issue affecting your Whirlpool WRF736SDAM11 refrigerator.

Under limited, varying circumstances, the LED Driver Board may produce signal noise which can produce a false trip of an AFCI breaker.

Correction: After verifying the refrigerator is supplied by an AFCI breaker, order Service Kit #W10810444 and install in accordance with instructions supplied with kit. Note: AFCI breakers are different than GFCI breakers. GFCI breakers are not affected. AFCI breakers are typically labeled “Arc Fault” (Figure 1) or “AFCI” (Figure 2) on the breaker face and have a test button.

Service Pointer - W10806461 (Tripping of AFCI Breakers) (pdf)

As for the whereabouts of the mentioned Service Kit #W10810444 - I've not been able to find an image for what it actually is. It is described as CORD-POWER but it will need to be something more to actually solve your problem. (some ebay results are just a simple wire cord - don't buy that). here's a link to one for sale and another

Alternatively, you might be able to fix it by unplugging the LED in the fridge. This might not work - especially if the LED driver isn't actually on the same chip - but if it fixes your issue, you can be sure that your issue is related to the LED driver. If you are in a bind, you could just put a battery powered motion sensing light in the fridge to replace the built in one - not elegant but doable.

Noise from electronics tripping AFCI breakers is rather common. I visited the Square D (Schneider) facility ~6 years ago. They had a room full of household electrical loads (ceiling fans, sump pumps, TVs) to test their breakers with. They said they once went to a guy's house and bought the $5,000 TV from him that was tripping his breaker so they could fix the issue and test improvements to the breaker design.

That is to say one option is to replace the AFCI circuit breaker - they likely have a new and improved revision that won't be affected by the LED driver in your fridge. If you want, contact the manufacture of the breaker and inquire whether they can offer you a replacement, discount coupon or other resolution.

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