However, they will also trip together, so another appliance could take out your fridge, even if you try my "isolation transformer" approach. You can fit an $85 2-pole GFCI breaker, and have both MWBC legs protected. You can fit a GFCI receptacle here, but that means you'll have to cap off the red wire, and only have one 20A circuit instead of two.
Since I gather you only have a 1-gang opening there, your choices of GFCI are limited. The transformer would make the GFCI not care about the fridge's internal ground faults, and dampen the arcing signals that make AFCIs trip. Transformers can handle startup spikes just fine. If I had to put a fridge on GFCI or AFCI, I would put it on an isolation transformer sized for continuous run wattage (VA), so quite a small unit in the 100-300VA range.
#Converting 220 outlet to 110 install#
Which is actually the final word on the subject you're not allowed to install those on GFCI because the instructions say you can't, and that's how UL approved it.
#Converting 220 outlet to 110 manuals#
Many manuals even say "Do not put on GFCI/AFCI", and UL approves the manual this way. So it's very common to buy a brand new fridge, get a string of nuisance GFCI trips, and be told "tough toenails" by both the dealer and the manufacturer. They haven't even begun the engineering necessary to prevent refrigerators from generating ground faults or appearing to generate arc faults. It's common for caretakers to not taste the food (if the caregiver is paid, always eating client food is stealing).Įven worse, refrigerator makers were caught completely flat-footed by the emerging GFCI and AFCI requirements in kitchens. "Hurting someone" happens by the astonishingly common scenario of a caregiver feeding food to a child, elder, or sick/disabled person, who are already vulnerable to food illness. It never occurs to the person that the fridge has spent the last 11 hours off, and it chills back down with the damage done. "Food getting spoiled" happens by someone noticing the GFCI (breaker) has tripped, and resetting it - often because something else doesn't work. You don't want "dueling safety systems", especially given the nil benefit a GFCI provides a grounded fridge. It has that in common with a fire pump or radon venting system. The fridge is a safety system: its job is to keep food safe. And you're not likely to drop the fridge in the sink. The metal shell and good ground assures any ground faults will be trapped. There's absolutely no safety benefit whatsover (provided ground is present): The "hot" equipment is in the bottom back of the fridge, impossible to access without pulling the fridge out. "Should I consider using a Ground Fault (GFCI) circuit breaker since it's a fridge?" No, you should consider avoiding at all costs using a GFCI on a fridge*. However, you will need to pigtail after all, all the wires, because of the impracticability of putting a #8 wire on a receptacle. But you would if you extended this MWBC to another outlet. Of course, in this case you only have one outlet, so you don't need to pigtail neutral.
I have a hunch they do that on purpose, to stop you from plugging two major appliances into a single duplex receptacle, presuming that a single 15A or 20A circuit can't support two major appliances. Hooking 2 major appliances may be a pain, because most plugs have the cord go right-angle downward (down=ground pin side). You've got that covered with a 2-pole, providing you really do mean a 2-pole and not a double-stuff. These have special rules, but you seem to have them covered. You're creating a multi-wire branch circuit (MWBC).
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