It sounds like your washer needs its main bearings replaced. My top load Sears Kenmore HE washer had the bearing seals fail and allowed water to get into the bearings. Over the course of a few months the washer, in high speed cycles, sounded like a freight train passing by in the next room. It was LOUD just like you are describing.
A sure fire test to check if it is the bearings is to rotate the washer tub / agitator by hand, when the washer is OFF, for a few turns. If the rotation has a grinding or roughness feeling then it is almost for sure the bearings.
I took on the repair myself and purchased the replacement parts on line for ~50$US. It also took a special tool to press in the new roller bearings. I found out that the bearings were industry standard size roller bearings (my washer used two bearings each of which was a different size) so I went to a site that sells a bit higher quality bearings with known names than the brandless import types used in the original washer. The special tool was a bit expensive at ~85$US but made the install very easy.
My suggestion is to get your washer model number and do some Google searches. When I did that I even found that the results turned up several U-Tube videos showing the steps in the bearing removal and installation.
After the new bearings were in place washer runs better than a new one. The thing is now so quiet I'm never sure just when the last load of laundry is completed.
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.
Best Answer
Option 1: Call a pro.
The safest and easiest approach. If you don't have the skills and/or equipment for the other options, just have the machine diagnosed and repaired by someone who does.
Option 2: Use an isolation transformer.
Just pull out your trusty isolation transformer and use it to power the machine. I'm sure you have got one, or you would have stopped at Option 1.
This ensures that both the live and the neutral conductors of the washing machine are isolated from ground and the mains, so you can't get nailed no matter which part of the machine you touch. You can also monitor the current through the equipment grounding conductor and while you wiggle or disconnect various parts of circuitry to pinpoint the ground fault.
Not really option 3: Play the Russian roulette and get yourself killed to save a hundred £/€.
This is very much against the applicable code/regulations unless you're a licensed electrician. If you're one, go to Option 2 instead. If you aren't one, go to Option 1.
You're still here? OK, whatever, it's your life (and those of your family members) anyway. Don't come back complaining when your house burns down or someone gets killed.
Disconnect the ground wire AND bond the chassis to the neutral wire instead. Triple-check that you haven't accidentally swapped live and neutral. Do not leave the chassis unbonded under any circumstances, as the ground fault would make it live and get yourself killed even sooner than otherwise expected.
If you want, you can make yourself a convenient un-grounding gizmo for this: Make a really short extension cord (so short nobody will ever want to use it for anything, like 20 cm or less) that has the ground contact(s) on the receptacle end bonded to neutral, and the ground contacts(s) on the plug end left disconnected. Clearly label this as a time-travel tool that takes you back to when dedicated equipment grounding was a rarely used luxury. Never use it to permanently workaround ground faults.
Undo these modifications as soon as you're done troubleshooting. Under no circumstances leave the machine unattended when wired like this.
Really, you should have picked one of the former two options instead.