Freezers on GFCI Circuits

[AZGUY]

Hey everybody I just wanted to make a friendly PSA about freezers on GFCI circuits. I'm a home inspector and about 25% of the houses I inspect have a freezer on a GFCI circuit. This is a BAD idea, even if you catch that the switch has tripped it will often re-trip when the compressor kicks back on in the freezer so be careful with that game meat!

 

[HuntHarder]

Dedicated simplex outlet is the only way!

 

[Ray]

With the NEC requiring all garage outlets to be GFI protected, what do you recommend? Move the freezer into the living room or a bedroom?

Currently selling my old house with 1950's two conductor system and having to install GFI outlets with lots of labels saying "no equipment ground" and "GFCI protected".

The electricians recommend that I get a battery operated temp alarm for the little freezer out in the garage that goes with the house.

Question: if the compressor kicking on is causing the GFCI to trip then there is either a problem with the load on the circuit or the refrigerator. The spike in the current flow caused by the compressor should not be enough to trip a GFCI under normal operating conditions. I battled this in my old house and found the original refrigerator had some issues with the compressor motor. Cheaper to buy a new fridge than repair the old garage sale classic that came with the house.

 

[7mag.]

GFCI outlets suck. Every house I've ever owned, I replaced all the GFI outlets with real outlets.

 

[Chucklehead]

I can't recommend replacing GFCI outlets to standard for no reason. If your home has cheaper units in it and you want to get higher quality ones to limit the risk, I'm all for it. Better or worse, they are there for your protection. Your life or the life of a family member is not worth a freezer full of meat. Keep that in mind before you do anything.
But I think replacing them with higher quality units and a remote temp sensor would be a good solution.
A GFCI trips on a ground fault not an over current situation (like a compressor turning on) It is not a circuit breaker. There was either something wrong with the GFCI outlet or the freezer had a ground fault situation.

 

[ofl0926]

I made that mistake once. Left on a cruise with the wife for a week. Freezer plugged into gfci outlet. We had a power bump. Gfci tripped, freezer never turned back on. Let's just say that when I got home, it smelled like death in my house and even worse in the garage. All my shit spoiled. Learned my lesson quick


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[patty59]

Odd that the NEC would have all the garage circuits on gfci. But if that's the case I'd plug my freezer into the same circuit as the door opener. That way you'll know if it's tripped since that's something you'd use quite a bit.

 

[Weekender]

I just have a radio going constantly so I know something is up if it's not playing and it works well to create sound if any buddy is interested in breaking in. So far it's worked well


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[Laelkhunter]

We have our chest freezer in the garage, and it was plugged into a GFCI outlet. It tripped when lightning struck closeby, possibly creating an electric surge or something. It tripped the GFCI, and the freezer was off for about three hours until I checked it. No other GFCI tripped. I had the electrician out the next day to put another wall outlet without the GFCI. He was the electrician that put in the wiring in the house when it was built . He said if he knows a freezer will be plugged into an outlet in the garage, he WILL NOT put a GFCI outlet there.

 

[HuntHarder]

Not all garage outlets have to be GFCI protected. If you do a dedicated Simplex, which is a single outlet, not a duplex ( common receptacle in houses) it will pass code.

 

[Blackcow]

I own anice cream shop, so ive had my share of freezer issues the last, well, close to 20 years. If you can do it, no gfci. But if you have to, or even if you dont, get something like an accu rite. Even better, a commercial model from tempalert. The new ones have wifi, and will text or email you. Mine are the old hardwired style, hooked to my alarm system. You only lose 15 grand of product once before you get freezer insurance and temp sensors.
Also, commercial stand up freezers are the best. Expensive new, but so many restaurants close o go belly up, you can usually find one fairly reasonable. True or kelvinator. Reason being, they actually have a condensor you can see, and get too, and clean. Most consumer models you can't. And they have replaceable, repairable defrost timers. I've never seen one pop a gfci, but a dirty conenser will shut a compressor off from the high side switch, or throw a breaker, or both. Also,stand ups, for the most part, freeze more uniformly, and its easier to actually see what you have without digging around.
My .02 !

 

[Shrek]

Change out the gfci outlets for freezers...or just about anything else.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Yep, swap it out. Or get a freezer alarm.
Hunt'nFish

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Or both.

 

[Slim Jim]

Swap out the outlet and breaker as well.

 

[alpine_troop]

Just had this happen. Came home from summer vacation, found my chest freezer was completely off and lost 60+ lbs of meat. 15 year old house, 5 year old freezer, plugged into GFCI outlet in the garage. GFCI had tripped.

Thanks for the info here, I will be swapping outlets and installing a freezer alarm! Thank goodness the freezer wasn’t chock full at this point in the year.

 

[Blockcaver]

Get YoLink and monitor your freezer(s) temps, house temps, refrigerators, water alarms (leaks) on your phone. Our system has about 25 items hooked up and has worked great over the past few years.

 

[Clinton]

With the NEC requiring all garage outlets to be GFI protected, what do you recommend? Move the freezer into the living room or a bedroom?

Currently selling my old house with 1950's two conductor system and having to install GFI outlets with lots of labels saying "no equipment ground" and "GFCI protected".

The electricians recommend that I get a battery operated temp alarm for the little freezer out in the garage that goes with the house.

Question: if the compressor kicking on is causing the GFCI to trip then there is either a problem with the load on the circuit or the refrigerator. The spike in the current flow caused by the compressor should not be enough to trip a GFCI under normal operating conditions. I battled this in my old house and found the original refrigerator had some issues with the compressor motor. Cheaper to buy a new fridge than repair the old garage sale classic that came with the house.

I am an electrician and went to a highly respected trade school for it. One of the most senior instructors there had his freezer GFCI trip while he was out of town and came home to the smell of rotten meat. First thing he did was replace that damn GFCI outlet with a standard one. And he told all of us future electricians this. Your hands are tied with no equipment ground though. You are also in a unique situation trying to sell the house and it needs to be up to code. And I would never advise anyone to not follow the code, but hypothetically if I bought your house I would rewire the freezer outlet with an equipment ground and go to a regular outlet.

The most common reason a GFCI trips is actually just because the GFCI went bad. They are designed to detect a difference in incoming and outgoing current via magnetic fields and trip with as little as 5 milliamps of difference. I have to replace them all the time in my work. They won't trip only from high current, that's not how they work and that's what the breaker is for. So you are correct, but probably got lucky you didn't throw out a perfectly good appliance unless you had already tried a new GFCI.

 

[acmorris]

I am an electrician and went to a highly respected trade school for it. One of the most senior instructors there had his freezer GFCI trip while he was out of town and came home to the smell of rotten meat. First thing he did was replace that damn GFCI outlet with a standard one. And he told all of us future electricians this. Your hands are tied with no equipment ground though. You are also in a unique situation trying to sell the house and it needs to be up to code. And I would never advise anyone to not follow the code, but hypothetically if I bought your house I would rewire the freezer outlet with an equipment ground and go to a regular outlet.

The most common reason a GFCI trips is actually just because the GFCI went bad. They are designed to detect a difference in incoming and outgoing current via magnetic fields and trip with as little as 5 milliamps of difference. I have to replace them all the time in my work. They won't trip only from high current, that's not how they work and that's what the breaker is for. So you are correct, but probably got lucky you didn't throw out a perfectly good appliance unless you had already tried a new GFCI.

Also being an electrician i tell my clients that a dedicated circuit is in my opinion the best way to avoid an accidental trip.

 

[TimberRunner]

Yeah, I replaced the ones in my shop that the freezers are plugged into. Didnt even think twice about it. Have whole house generator now, so unless compressors die in units, I'm good.