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bobcouch's avatar
bobcouch
Explorer
Sep 08, 2019

New refrigerator bloows breaker

The fridge in my 5th wheel caught fire (saw it happen and got it out before any further damage) and had to be replaced. Once the new one was installed, it worked great on propane but blew the breaker on AC. The service tech came back out and after carefully diagnosing the problem, he disconnected the green ground wire from the circuit board. It works fine now, but I'm sure there are wires crossed somewhere. I've gone over the wiring and everything seems to be connected correctly. Suggestions?
  • Unplug the new refer, If breaker still trips, problem is in rig. If it does not trip problem is in refer.
  • Is the CB a GFCI type?

    Reconnect the green wire and connect the refer to a known good CB breaker in a house etc with an extension cord. Then to a known good GFCI breaker in the house. Report back.

    Green as in ground wire is a safety ground and should not be disconnected.
  • Disconnecting the Green Ground wire points to your Refer 120 receptacle is on a GFCI circuit. When you state breaker, are you tripping the 120 breaker IN the Main breaker panel or a wall GFCI?
    Disconnecting ANY OEM wiring on an Appliance or RV is NOT---NOT a correct fix. There is a reason certain wiring especially ground wires are installed. As another posted, you need the Polarity of the refer wall receptacle checked. The fire, did it damage anything else behind the refer(120 receptacle and any OEM RV wiring)? Usually when a Refer 120 element trips, it trips a GFCI receptacle when the 120 heating element has a minor fault. IF you have a standard 120, 15 or 20 amp breaker tripping, then you have a serious wiring issue probably in the RV and not the refer. Going around the issue is not a correct safe way to address this type problem. You don't state what caused the refer fire, but is it possible this problem may be related? The 120 wiring in the RV caused the fire due to a shorted 120 romex or receptacle. The standard quick way to determine if a refer problem would be to connect the refer to a SHOP 120 outlet bypassing the RV. Did your "tech" do this? Doug
  • bobcouch wrote:
    The fridge in my 5th wheel caught fire (saw it happen and got it out before any further damage) and had to be replaced. Once the new one was installed, it worked great on propane but blew the breaker on AC. The service tech came back out and after carefully diagnosing the problem, he disconnected the green ground wire from the circuit board. It works fine now, but I'm sure there are wires crossed somewhere. I've gone over the wiring and everything seems to be connected correctly. Suggestions?

    Could the 120outlet be damaged from the fire. That isn't much of a tech , imho, to solve the problem by removing the safety gnd and not fixing the short. Does the green just jumper to the fridges cabinet or direct to power cord ?
  • If you have one of the three light testers, see what it says about receptacle.
    It is not good to disconnect the ground. I would not trust a tech that does it.

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