A fridge that trips the safety switch is frustrating because it often happens overnight and you find out from warm milk. The safety switch is doing its job: it has detected current leaking to earth somewhere on that circuit. The fridge is a common source, but not the only one.
Here's how to narrow it down safely. If you can't get the power to stay on, ring 0421 772 661 and we'll find out whether it's the fridge or the wiring.
If the fridge's plug, cord or power point is scorched, melted or smells of burning, or there's water pooled around the power point behind the fridge, switch that circuit off at the switchboard if you can do so safely and don't touch the plug. Call 000 if there's fire or anyone has had a shock.
Please don't get around the problem by running the fridge on an extension lead from a circuit with no safety switch. If the fridge has a leakage fault, the safety switch is the thing standing between that fault and whoever touches the fridge next.
Keep the fridge and freezer doors closed while you work through these; a closed fridge stays cold for a good while.
Switch off at the power point, unplug the fridge and reset the safety switch once. If it now stays on, the fridge is the strongest suspect.
Plug the fridge back in. If the switch trips straight away or when the compressor starts, or hours later during a defrost cycle, note the timing.
With it unplugged, check the cord for damage and the area for water from the defrost drain or a leaking ice-maker line.
Older switchboards often have one safety switch covering many circuits. Small leakage from several appliances can add up and trip it.
Then it isn't the fridge. Work through our guide to a safety switch that keeps tripping, or call us.
The defrost heater. Frost-free fridges have a small heater that melts ice off the cooling coils on a timer. When it or its wiring breaks down, it leaks current, and the trip happens at defrost time, often in the middle of the night.
Moisture inside the fridge's wiring. A blocked defrost drain or condensation can let water reach connections inside the fridge, especially in older or second fridges kept in garages and laundries.
The compressor or its starting parts. Ageing compressors and their starting components can develop insulation faults. A trip right when the fridge kicks on suggests something on that side.
These faults are inside the appliance, so they go to a refrigeration repairer or the manufacturer. Sometimes, with an older fridge, replacement makes more sense than repair.
A damaged power point or cable. Fridge outlets are hidden and often wet from cleaning or leaks. Water in the outlet, or a cable damaged when cabinetry was fitted, can trip the switch regardless of what's plugged in.
Too much on one safety switch. If one or two safety switches cover the whole house, a little leakage from the fridge, washing machine and computers together can be enough to trip it. That's not a fridge fault but a switchboard design issue. Splitting circuits onto individual RCBOs means a fault on one circuit only takes that one out. Our guide to RCD vs RCBO explains the difference, and a switchboard upgrade is how it's done.
Call us if the safety switch trips with the fridge unplugged, if it trips no matter which outlet the fridge uses, if the fridge's outlet looks damaged, or if you can't get the switch to reset at all. We test the circuit and the outlet, measure leakage, and tell you whether the fridge needs repair or the wiring does. If the switch won't go back on, see safety switch won't reset.
Often it's the defrost heater coming on at its scheduled time. If that heater or its wiring has an insulation fault, the safety switch trips when it switches on.
No. If the fridge is leaking current, the safety switch is what protects people from a shock. Fix the fault instead.
Yes. Small leakage from several appliances on one safety switch can add up. Spreading circuits across more protection, such as RCBOs, usually solves it.
If the switch stays on with the fridge unplugged and trips when it's plugged back in, the fridge is the likely cause. If it trips with the fridge unplugged, it's the wiring or another appliance.
No, we fix the electrical side. Faults inside the fridge go to a refrigeration repairer or the manufacturer.
NSW Electrical Contractor Licence 332956C · Fully insured · Since 2016 · Based in Hurlstone Park
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