Refrigerator Blowing Breaker

[scubakerny]

My frig will run on 30 amp no problem, but when I plug the trailer into a normal 110 outlet it blows the breaker. I took the side panel off and saw the frig was plugged into a local outlet behind the cover. I tried plugging it in directly to a 110 house outlet and it blew again. Have tried multiple outlet tests and different locations and still have the same issue. Would like to be able to plug the fridge in to cool down before we leave without having to use gas.

Any help would be appreciated

[time2roll]

So it trips open the 15 amp or 20 amp breaker in the main house panel?
And you are sure that breaker is not a GFI breaker?

A non-GFI breaker will have the single hot wire connected. GFI breaker will have an additional wire.

Very odd for a heating element to operate on 30 amp power and then trip a standard 15 amp breaker. If drawing that much power the element would just burn out and quit.

[scubakerny]

Just now got a chance to look at this until last night and I thank you for your inputs in helping me trouble shoot.

Here are some answers to the questions.

Water heater is LP.

There isn't a converter/charger. Just the breaker panel and fuse box.

While camping I am able to use the campgrounds 30amp service and it runs off the power while I turn the LP off.

I have isolated the breaker that is tripping the GFI inside the trailer to the frig and turn off all others while troubleshooting the issue. I plugged directly into the frig through the panel on the side of the trailer with the same result.

I am tried numerous 110 outlets (with and without GFI)

BB_TX - yes it only trips the GFI not the breaker in the trailer.

After reviewing all the posts it sounds like my heating element is bad and needs to be replaced.

[MrWizard]

Yes.. Complete agreement

[dougrainer]

MrWizard wrote:
The fridge by itself, will not trip a 20 amp breaker
But it can add 3 or 4 amps to an already heavily loaded circuit
To trip the breaker for that circuit at home

But i agree with everyone who thinks the heating element is bad

Correct, but almost ALL garage and outside receptacles are on a GFCI breaker which will trip from a defective Heat Element. It is NOT the Load, but the Imbalance between the White(Neutral) and HOT (Black) that trips a GFCI. Doug

[MrWizard]

The fridge by itself, will not trip a 20 amp breaker
But it can add 3 or 4 amps to an already heavily loaded circuit
To trip the breaker for that circuit at home

But i agree with everyone who thinks the heating element is bad

[Chris_Bryant]

BB_TX wrote:

Chris Bryant wrote:
What Doug said- keep in mind the refrigerator has a 5-7 amp fuse on it, so it's not going to trip a 20 amp breaker due to overload.

Is that fuse for the 12 volt side or the 120 vac side?

3 amp for the 12 volt side, 5 or 7.5 amp for the 120 volt side- usually 5 amp.

[BB_TX]

Chris Bryant wrote:
What Doug said- keep in mind the refrigerator has a 5-7 amp fuse on it, so it's not going to trip a 20 amp breaker due to overload.

Is that fuse for the 12 volt side or the 120 vac side?

[Chris_Bryant]

What Doug said- keep in mind the refrigerator has a 5-7 amp fuse on it, so it's not going to trip a 20 amp breaker due to overload.

[dougrainer]

The refer Element is NOT blowing the breaker. It HAS to be tripping a GFCI breaker system. That means you have a 120 element in the refer that has an imbalance between the White and Black HOT 120 wiring. NOT enough to trip a 120 breaker, but enough to trip a GFCI and it still will work on a non GFCI breaker. Replace the 120 heat element and your problem goes away. Doug

[SidecarFlip]

I dislike the term 'blowing a breaker or fuse' It don't blow, it either melts (fuse) or trips (thermal breaker). If it 'blows' you have issues other than a short to ground or a high amperage draw.

When I was a kid, there was no thermal breakers, glassine fuses or encased in plastic ATO style fuses. We had knob and tube wiring and the 'fuse box' was a series of screw terminals you bridged with (fuse wire), basically solder in various diameters that corresponded to different amperage draws and when the amperage exceed what the 'fuse' would carry, it melted and you corrected the problem and replaced the fuse wire.

Sounds to me like the cartridge heater (also called a Mullion Heater) is shorted to ground. Time to disconnect and replace.... and because the OP has tripped the breakers numerous times, if it was me, I'd be replacing the thermal breakers as well. Like I said previously, continual tripping of a thermal breaker lowers the threshold at which it trips.

[mr__ed]

MrWizard wrote:
You turned off the water heater
And the converter/ charger ?

If so
Heating element is shorted out to ground
Replace the heating element

X2. Cartridge heaters often open, but they can short, too. The heater is the only part of the circuit that could trip a high-amperage breaker.

[MrWizard]

If you're tripping the house circuit breaker
Using only the fridge on an extension cord
There are other items in the house on the circuit and your 3 amps from the fridge is over load

But i think the heating element in the fridge is leaking to ground and needs to be replaced
Time to use propane until you replace that heating element

[BB_TX]

If I understand what you are saying, you unplugged the fridge from the outlet behind the fridge and plugged it (via extension cord?) directly to your house outlet and it still tripped the house breaker.

If it trips the house breaker when connected directly to a house outlet I don't know why it would not trip the breaker on your internal trailer distribution panel when connected normally and plugged into a 30 amp outlet. The fridge AC power should be wired from one of your trailer distribution panel 15 or 20 amp sub circuit breakers. What are the amp ratings of the "house breakers" you are tripping?

[SidecarFlip]

One thing that most people don't realize is that a thermal breaker wears out over time, especially it it trips once in a while.