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.
Same problem here: plugging in gas dryer, with dryer off, immediately trips GFCI. GFCI is new; dryer is old. I doubt the "fluctuating current" argument: a washer, with its different cycle starts/stops, is going to generate more "fluctuating current" events than a gas dryer. (Also the dryer is off when I plug it in.) I thoroughly cleaned the inside of the dryer, removing all lint, and brushing dust off of all components. Still trips when plugged in. So I disconnected/isolated hot in the dryer's control panel: still tripped when plugged in. Then I also disconnected/isolated neutral in the dryer control panel: still tripped! New test: without the dryer, ran a test lead from ground in the outlet to the gas pipe connection: trip! Measured a small AC voltage (30mV) between outlet ground and gas pipe. Next step (in this case) is to talk to some people about grounding requirements for gas supply pipes.
Best Answer
Same old deal I have seen for the past 35 years as a service technician. Not one person referenced the owners manual. Any appliance you purchase that has a compressor will tell you in the owners manual to not plug it into a GFCI receptacle. And this goes beyond compressors to include just about anything with an AC motor. While it is true a lot of refrigerators will run for a while on a GFCI receptacle, it is inevitable that at some point the internal lubricant will collect enough metal from friction wear that it will charge the lubricant itself and create a natural current leakage to ground, which, surprise, surprise trips the GFCI. The most common response when you tell someone to read their manual is "I didn't get one" Uh huh. P.S. all compressors are vapor compressors. If there's no vapor there nothing to compress