Why does my fridge/freezer short the circuit?

Question

I got a second hand fridge/freezer from my inlaws. It's always worked at their house. I left it for 4 hours to let it settle but when I switch it on at the plug it shorts the circuit and all the plugs in the house turn off. I've turned off every other plug in the kitchen and it still shorts, so it isn't overloading the system. Why?

Answer 1

Your inlaws probably have fuses for circuit protection in their house, and you have circuit breakers and probably an RCD (earthtrip). A fuse will take overload for some time, for example a 13 amp fuse doesn't blow immediately if it passes 13 amps. A circuit breaker on the other hand will trip at the rated current, more or less. They may also not use an earth trip, so the earth fault current may not be enough to blow the fuse, whereas the earth trip only needs a fraction of an amp to trip. I would think the fridge is US, but I would check that the wiring in the plug top is OK first.

Answer 2

If it is tripping striaght away you probably have a dead short. Check the cable for damage. Check the wires at the back have not been damaged or come loose. If the trip occurs after a little while then it sounds like the fridge has a faulty compressor. And is tripping out once the compressor kicks in.

Answer 3

You might have to many things plugged into that circuit. Try a differnet outlet

Answer 4

Check the cord and plug for any damage.  You might want to remove the back cover to see if any wires might have come loose.

Answer 5

It isn't overloading, it's leaking current to earth.

Is it a double-width green switch which is tripping?  

The compressor motor is becoming knackered on it.

They probably don't have RCDs at their house, which means that it works OK.

Answer 6

ur fuse might be to low or moving as caused some damage to the fridge wire.

Answer 7

why do you think she gave it to you It is cream crackered