If your GFCI trips, don’t worry — it’s just doing its job. Let's find the source of the trip.
First Steps
Regular Maintenance
It's important to perform regular fridge maintenance before trying these fixes. Your appliance should last for at least 10-15 years before needing replacement, so keep it running well with these refrigerator maintenance tips.
Safety Note: Power Down the Fridge
Before removing and replacing or continuity testing electrical components, power down the fridge. This will prevent damage to the components and prevent you from being electrocuted. Still, some electrical components — like capacitors — will store their charge and should not be tampered with.
- If the fridge is pulled away from the wall, or if the power switch is easily accessible, remove the plug.
- Otherwise, find the fridge’s circuit breaker in your breaker box and turn the circuit off.
- Verify your fridge has lost power by opening the doors and seeing if the fridge lights turn on.
Safety Note: Sharp Sheet Metal
When working underneath the fridge, consider wearing gloves to avoid cuts from the sharp sheet metal. The sheet metal is the thin structural metal where components mount. While wearing gloves may make work more challenging, it’s worth protecting yourself.
Reset Power
When refrigerators experience temporary power outages, they may enter a safe mode. The safe mode protects the fridge's internal components from electrical overloading. You'll have to reset the power to your fridge.
- Unplug your refrigerator. If the plug is too hard to reach, switch the circuit breaker off.
- Wait 5 minutes before returning power to the fridge.
- Once power is back, open your freezer and push the light switch 3 times to trigger a cooling cycle.
- Monitor temperature over the next 24 hours.
Reset GFCI
GFCIs are sensitive to environmental changes and may result in nuisance trips. You may see more nuisance trips during hot-weather months.
- Reset your GFCI, and power on the fridge.
Faulty Power Cord
One common source of trouble with fridges is the power cord.
- Unplug the cord and give it a thorough inspection.
- Damage to the cord looks like worn-out insulation, kinks, or bite marks. If you notice any of these problems, replace your current power cord with a brand-new one.
- Next, look at the power prongs.
- If they are bent or rusted, replace the cord. If they seem fine, plug the appliance into the outlet and turn it on.
- Plug in another device, like a lamp or clock, to test the outlet.
Faulty Power Outlet
If your refrigerator is plugged into a power strip, unplug it and remove the cover on the power strip.
- Look for any blackened or burned spots on the wires, and replace if found.
Ice Maker Malfunctioning
The ice maker draws power upon startup, but not normally enough to cause a trip. However, if your water line to the fridge is disconnected and the fridge attempts to start an ice cycle, the GFCI may trip.
- If there's no water supplied to the fridge, disable the ice maker.
- If you regularly make ice, verify that your water line is not blocked or frozen, as this could also be the cause of a trip.
- If you need a replacement ice maker assembly, iFixit offers several of the most common assemblies.
Standards and Codes
While it's a common problem for a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI and GFI) outlets to trip when using older refrigerators, newer fridges seem to have more sophisticated internals that prevent trips. New wiring standards are based on NEC Article 210.8 and 210.52 and are as follows:
- All commercial buildings/kitchens are required to have GFCI for refrigerators.
- In a Dwelling Unit (house or apartment) refrigerators located inside the kitchen do NOT have to have a GFCI.
- If the circuit feeding the refrigerator outlet is branched to any other outlet, it must be a 20-A circuit. If the circuit feeding the refrigerator outlet is a dedicated individual circuit, then it can be either 15-A or 20-A.
- In a garage or an unfinished basement of a Dwelling unit, the refrigerator must have a GFCI circuit.
Not Running a Dedicated Circuit
This means that while a residential kitchen refrigerator does not need to be on a dedicated circuit, using a dedicated circuit is certainly a good idea. Check your breaker panel with — or without — a circuit finder, or consult an electrician to inspect your home's wiring.
Snubber Not Installed
A snubber can be installed to reduce turn-on/turn-off voltage spikes. If nuisance tripping is the only issue, then adding a snubber may fix this issue. Consult an electrician.
Faulty GFCI Outlet
GFCI outlets generally have lives of about 7-10 years and may fail in 5 years. Test your outlet monthly.
- In the event of continuous tripping, replace the GFCI outlet.
- Call an electrician, or cut power to the circuit, then test that the circuit is dead.
- Transfer wires from one unit to the other.
Faulty Circuit Breaker
The circuit breaker is responsible for regulating the electrical current in your home. When your refrigerator is tripping a GFCI outlet, the corresponding breaker or outlet might be at fault rather than the GFCI.
- Consult an electrician if you are unsure about the electrical testing procedures.
GFCI Wired Incorrectly
Older fridges might not get along with GFCIs as well as newer fridges. If your fridge's receptacle is wired to the load side of the outlet instead of the line side, you may be experiencing nuisance trips. You may be able to bypass it. Keep in mind that everything downstream of the refrigerator outlet won't be protected if you do this, and you may need to add a GFCI to restore protection to the outlets beyond the fridge outlet.
- View this re-wiring video or this video and consult an electrician if unsure of the procedure.
Overloading Circuit
It may not be your GFCI tripping! It might be the circuit breaker! Especially if the reset button doesn't seem to work. It’s possible that you’re plugged into an overloaded circuit. If unchecked, this circuit could lead to a fire.
- If you’ve got any other major home appliances or electronics plugged into the same circuit as your fridge, relocate them to another outlet before calling an electrician.
- If your home refrigerator is tripping your circuit breaker, and can't run a new outlet, then move the fridge to an alternative power outlet.
- Verify that the breaker isn't tripping.
- If it trips in the alternative power outlet, call an electrician. They will help you run a new dedicated circuit for the fridge.
Neutral-Ground Short
A short is usually what causes the GFCI to trip, and if there is a neutral-ground short, the GFCI is doing its job.
- If your fridge trips once, and then constantly, test the plug to see if there's continuity between ground and hot or neutral.
- If there is a short, follow the circuit with a multimeter and figure out what component is responsible. Test each component for continuity to ground. A short looks like 0Ω to the ground.
- This will most likely be the compressor but may be the defrost heater or any other component.
Ground Fault
A ground fault occurs when electricity is sent through a different path than intended. Some causes for faults are:
- Bare or frayed wires and insulation
- Water leaks near electrical
- Pest damage to electrical systems
- Incorrectly wired electrical units
Ground faults that damage your electrical system can be extremely dangerous.
- Test your outlet with a receptacle tester. Ground faults should be inspected and corrected by an electrician.
- Simply replacing the GFCI will not solve the issue of the fault.
Faulty Refrigerator Wiring
Your fridge's internal wiring could be causing your GFCI to trip.
- Unplug and remove the lower back panel of your refrigerator.
- Inspect for damaged wires. If any are found, replace them with new wires and tape them securely in place
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