The fridge in our apartment keeps on blowing the fuse in the panel. We have the older type screw in fuses. All are 15 amp. If I put a new fuse in it will last for half a day or less. It happens even when nothing else is plugged in for that circuit. Would it be the fridge malfunctioning, like maybe surging and then blowing the fuse. Thanks. Patt.
The fridge is malfunctioning, or there is an intermittent short in the house wiring (very unlikely, but you can check this by seeing if the fuse blows without the fridge) It's quite possible for a fuse to blow for little reason if it's very old. However, 12 hours isn't.
How old is the fridge? If it's fairly old, you may want to consider replacement, if only due to the fact that an old one will use more electricity. Repair may or may not be possible. Based on my skimpy knowledge of fridges, I'd be tending towards the "not" end of that.
Hi,
It could be the refrigerator. Too bad you don't have an amprobe to check the amps it is pulling. Anyway, the fridge has quite a few hi amp componets that could casue this periodically. Perhaps a sticking fan motor that has trouble starting due to age or a bad bearing. Or a compressor on its way out drawing too much amps to start. You might try unplugging everything on the circuit and then plugging in each thing alone to see for sure what it is. If you suspect the fridge try running an externsion cord froma different circuit and seing if it blows that fuse. Once you know for sure it is the fridge then you need to decide if it is worth repairing. It will cost quite a bit to repair it even if it is soemthing simple becasue HVAC techs charge at least $60 an hour :(
Candice
This is Turtle.
By running a half day before blowing the fuse tells me your refrigerator is malifuctioning in someway. I would think first that you have a plugged up condenser coil on it and just need cleaning. A dirty condenser coil will do this same thing in most all cases with a dirty condenser coil.
TURTLE
Check the temperature of the fuse right after it blows. If it is warm to the touch, a bad connection in the fuse box is likely generating heat and causing the fuse to open. In that case getting an electrician to check the fuse box itself is likely necessary.
If the fuse is still cool right after it blows, the problem might be in the fridge however such a failure would be uncommon to only occur intermittently IMO.
Dan O.
- Appliance411.com
Patt:
P > The fridge in our apartment keeps on blowing the fuse in the panel. We have P > the older type screw in fuses. All are 15 amp. If I put a new fuse in it P > will last for half a day or less. It happens even when nothing else is P > plugged in for that circuit. Would it be the fridge malfunctioning, like P > maybe surging and then blowing the fuse. Thanks.
"Obviously" there is something wrong some place. As someone suggested, see how long the fuse lasts without the refrigerator plugged in. Problem is this doesn't test for a bad connection at the outlet itself.
When you say "nothing else is plugged into that circuit" are you saying the fuse's circuit (fuse is dedicated to the refrigerator only) or nothing else pluged into the refrigerator's outlet? Here the original house wiring had four glass fuses; the outlet the refrig was plugged in to was on the same fuse circuit as several other outlets, all of which had stuff plugged in.
Besides cleaning the refrigerator's coils, you may want to check if there are any 'extras' like automatic defrost ("frost-free"), ice maker, etc. It is possible one of these is malfunctioning or causing the total current to be drawn to go over 15A.
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