On Jul 11, 5:14 am, kjpro @ usenet.com wrote:
"DC" wrote in message

oups.com...

I have an old home with ungrounded sockets. I hooked up my fridge to a
portable GFCI plug, and in the last 3 months, the fridge has tripped
the circuit. Both times, the fridge works fine when I reset it...so
I'm assuming the fridge is OK. What else would cause the fridge to
trip the plug?

A refrigerator/freezer should NOT be plugged into a GFCI outlet!!!!!!!!

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Agree: Don't. Assuming it is standard fridge with a motor/compressor;
that is general advice here and elsewhere.

Since the so called GFCIs work on the unblance of current between live
and neutral it may trip especially as the fridge motor starts. Same
thing for freezers.

But question: Why, if the house not equipped with even grounded
outlets would one plug a fridge into a 'portable GFCI'.
Was the OP attempting to overcome some other perceived or actual
problem?

If, for example there was some slight leakage to the metal frame of
the fridge, would it not be best to arrange some sort of ground for
that one item and hide the extra wiring (to say a grounded water pipe
etc. etc.) behind the fridge. Such leakage unlikely (although we had a
dryer that went that way one time; it turned out to be a broken ground
connection). But if really noticeable could be an incipient fault and/
or inherent capacitance between wiring, internal parts of the motor/
compressor and the frame/casing?

Curious!