On Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:08:02 -0600, Tony Hwang
wrote:

Wayne Whitney wrote:
On 2009-09-10, stan wrote:

While this may be true it has frequently been mentioned here on these
pages that any 115 volt motor equipped domestic appliance, fridge,
freezer, washer etc. should NOT be plugged into a GFCI equipped
circuit.

Again, that is outdated information--current generation GFCIs and
current generation appliances should work together OK. In certain
situations, the 2008 NEC will require a GFCI, e.g. in a kitchen
outside of a dwelling unit, all 120V 20A and 15A receptacles require
GFCI protection, even refrigerators. While in a residential kitchen,
the refrigerator need not be on a GFCI.

Keyword here is OUTSIDE.

And they can't all have defective winding insualtion? Especially
those all-enclosed fridge compressor units?

An appliance will be built to a standard that allows some small amount
of leakage current (there is always a little). Perhaps older
appliances were built to looser standards. Plus in any motor, as the
insulation ages due to the heat generated by using the motor, the
leakage current will increase.

You keep talking about winding insulation. We are talking about surge(spike)

Cheers, Wayne
Capacitive /inductive vs resistive coupling to ground. You can have
insulation good for 50,000 volts on a 110 device and still get an
inbalance on startup if the inductive OR capacitive reactance is too
high.