I recently bought a house and when I went to plug the fridge in it worked fine however the next morning. I wen to check on it and found that the circuit had been popped as well the ice machine was on at during the night. The I turned the ice machine off and reset the breaker and plugged the fridge in and it worked for a while but it eventually tripped the 20 amp gfci this time and as well as the next time. I Will note that the fridge I self not plugged into a gfci but is wired from one could this be causing the problem or would there be other reason for the fridge to be popping the gfci?
Wiring – Would the fridge be causing the 20amp gfci to trip
gfciwiring
Related Solutions
It certainly seems like you have a ground fault somewhere. Is it possible there is water damage anywhere inside the garage?
Since you've already replaced the GFCI, I think it's safe to assume it's working properly and is tripping as it's designed to. That means somewhere current from the hot or neutral wires is leaking to the ground wire or somewhere else. (I'm guessing it's a neutral -> ground short, since it only happens when you try to use an appliance. A hot -> ground short should trip the GFCI as soon as the power comes on.)
Here are the things I would try:
- Does the tripping happen at the GFCI, or just the downstream outlets? If it's easy to tell which order the receptacles are wired in, start by plugging something in to the first one downstream of the GFCI. Does that trip it? If so, the short is probably between that outlet and the GFCI. If it doesn't trip, move to the next outlet and see if that trips, etc.
- Take the cover off all the outlets and inspect them. Look for any signs of moisture, or a loose wire nut, or a conductor touching the side of the box.
- If you don't see anything suspicious, start pulling the outlets out and rewiring them. Disconnect them all and start adding them back one by one.
- If you still haven't found the issue, it's possible the wiring inside the wall got damaged somehow. Possibly a combination of mice chewing on the wires and moisture from the storm? If you've reconnected the wiring to the outlets one by one, starting with the closets, you should at least be able to tell which section of wall the defect is likely to be in.
Other notes:
- I'm not sure if the continuity tester will help much, the problem is a short not an open circuit. Especially if the problem is caused by a neutral / ground short, those are always going to test as continuous since they connect at the main breaker box.
- I wouldn't worry too much about the voltage readings you got with the GFCI tripped, open circuits can sometimes have small but non-zero voltage readings.
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
The fridge is most likely tripping the GFCI. Most folks recommend not plugging refrigerators into GFCI circuits, for this exact reason.
Refrigerator manufacturer's still have trouble controlling current leakage, and most of them are basically ignoring the problem. One day the manufacturer's will be forced to address the problem, but until then they'll likely keep tripping GFCIs.
Either run a non-GFCI circuit to plug the fridge in, or find a manufacturer that doesn't have the problem, and by a fridge from them.