Fridge Popping GFI

[Sandmannd]

I have a ten year old fridge in my garage. Always worked great in my old home and has been working great in this one. About a week ago the GFI popped in the garage and shut down the outlets in there. I reset it and it popped. After unplugging everything and going one by one it would pop when we plug in the fridge. Really the only things running off these outlets are the garage door opener and the fridge now. But whenever I plug in the fridge it pops the GFI. Any idea what to look for on the fridge?

[Cicada]

Not uncommon for a refrigerator to pop a GFI. They draw a lot of energy at startup. At the store I work at, they don't recommend plugging a refrigerator into one. The GFI may have gotten weak and replacing it may work for a while. Do you need a GFI out there?

[Sandmannd]

Not sure if I need one out there or not. It was in the garage when we built. The fridge ran fine for six weeks and then it started to pop.

[Hoey]

There should be a way to determine if there is an internal short in the frig or dead ground in a shorted-out compressor. Try plugging it into a non-GFI outlet, using an extension cord if necessary. See if it kicks out the breaker.

Also with an ohm meter, I do not know the details of what to check for, but I would start out checking the corded plug, ground to neutral, ground to hot, ground to frame, etc... If the switch is in the on position and no power, the relay would be open. Again I do not know the details of this. Others here maybe able to provide more expert input to this.

[Sandmannd]

It's actually plugged into a non GFI outlet but the three outlets the builder put in the garage are all ran off the one GFI. Only other thing plugged in is the garage door opener right now.

[Surface Tension]

Replace the GFI. Yes either GFCI receptacle or breakers are required in a garage.

The way your setup is that GFCI is protecting downstream outlets. Perfectly fine but I prefer each outlet have its own GFCI especially in a garage where motors are frequently used and more so in this case a fridge on that circuit.

[Sandmannd]

Changed out the GFCI with a new one and same issue. This time the fridge ran for a couple hours then popped it. Now it pops it when you plug it in. Would you put a change the outlet the fridge plugs into with another GFCI or would you remove the GFCI and just put in a standard outlet?

[ncesi]

The idea of the GFI is to protect you from faulty equipment. You are starting to have an issue with the fridge that needs to be repaired. If you replace the GFI with a standard receptacle it will most likely work for some time, but there is still an issue developing in the fridge. Tough call! We run into this all the time in the electrical contracting world. By the state codes you need to throw away the fridge or have it repaired. As a licensed electrician and contractor that is what we have to tell you based on the code standards. Will it still work yes but if someone gets hurt due to the shortcut it is your responsibility. Gotta love the government looking out for us all.

[Neighbor_guy]

If -> Then

If you have replaced the outlet with a new one and the issue continues, -> Then my thinking is you have a fridge issue.

GFCI outlets are designed to fail at .5amps to ground. I would say you have a short to ground in your fridge someplace. Garage refrigerator's take a lot more abuse than we give them credit for. They run in an environment that swings from extremely cold to ungodly hot and it's always humid. You recently moved as well, so it's possible you damaged a wire in that process. Something as small as a kink in a wire can cause a gfci issue. Could be any number of these things that have caused the problem.

Like others have said, try grabbing an outlet that's not gfci protected and see if your issue continues. You may need to change from garage to another location. Replacing the refrigerator is also a likely fix.

[ikatcher]

There is a possibility that your defrost system has an issue. most refers run in cool mode for 8 hours and defrost comes on for 20 minutes. If it is in a defrost cycle and you are popping the gfi, the problem is in the defrost.If the compressor runs and it pops it could be several issues including the compressor. If it were mine I would run an extension cord from a non-GFI outlet and see what mode it is in.If comp is running it is in a cool mode. If it is quiet it is in a defrost mode.

[delcecchi]

GFI, .5 amps to ground? I don't think that is correct. Maybe .005 amps or something like that. .5 amps will kill you dead real quick.

[low277]

It does sound as though you have a issue with the refrigerator itself, and it is getting worse. Is the possibility of you or some member of your family getting hurt, or worse, really an option?

I would either fix the refrigerator or get rid of it, I would leave the GFCI in place.

I actually got rid of my old garage refrigerator last fall as it was doing the same thing.

[low277]

It does sound as though you have a issue with the refrigerator itself, and it is getting worse. Is the possibility of you or some member of your family getting hurt, or worse, really an option?

I would either fix the refrigerator or get rid of it, I would leave the GFCI in place.

I actually got rid of my old garage refrigerator last fall as it was doing the same thing.

[Neighbor_guy]

GFI, .5 amps to ground? I don't think that is correct. Maybe .005 amps or something like that. .5 amps will kill you dead real quick.

Yep your right, milliamperes is .00x

Gotta love auto correct.

[PurpleFloyd]

How long has the fridge been running in the garage? It has been colder than normal since about October and now last week we had the first above average temps. If the coils are dirty or the fridge isn't getting enough cool air for the exchanger to work you could be adding enough load to cause this change. If you haven't had it in there since last summer or haven't cleaned the coils I would look there first.

[Sandmannd]

How long has the fridge been running in the garage? It has been colder than normal since about October and now last week we had the first above average temps. If the coils are dirty or the fridge isn't getting enough cool air for the exchanger to work you could be adding enough load to cause this change. If you haven't had it in there since last summer or haven't cleaned the coils I would look there first.

I think you might have hit it on the head for me. We got it going in March and it ran fine until it warmed up outside which made it warm up in the garage. We haven't cleaned the coils on the fridge since we moved. I'm going to pull it away from the wall this week and get it all cleaned up and go from there.