In article ,
Theo Markettos writes:
ARWadsworth wrote:

"Colin Wilson" o.uk wrote
in message ...
pull quite high inrush currents (fom 5*In to 9*In). Add too much extra
resistance and the motor may stall on startup.

That said, it wouldn't be dangling off a reel, it'd be the shortest
uncoiled extension / adaptor I could find just to assist access, as

I cannot see a small extension like that causing a problem.

We have three fridges chained on two 4-way adaptors and haven't had any
starting problems. (There's only two sockets on that side of the room and
the other one is used by the toaster so no other way to plug them). I
hadn't thought about the inrush current when there's a power cut and they
all startup together... but the inrush /was/ a problem when I put one on a
plugin power meter and it tripped the 1KW software-set overcurrent. Set the
overcurrent to 3KW [1] and it was fine).

Presumably there are big problems after a power cut when everyone's
appliances pull their inrush at the same time, which is when I might expect
voltage drops and starting problems.

Modern fridges and freezers have a bit of a delay before starting.
Older ones don't.

I remember an incident when I was living in London in the early
1980s. Power tripped out to a large supermarket (Safeway in
Brunswick shopping centre). They couldn't turn it back on, until
they'd gone round and switched off a good number of the fridge/
freezer cabinets.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]