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Samsung Refrigerator Tripping GFCI

solarken

NABCEP PVIP
Location
Hudson, OH, USA
Occupation
Solar Design and Installation Professional
So I have a refrigerator, 3 feet away from the edge of the sink in a new kitchen that I just installed (electric only obviously) and the refrigerator circuit is a 20 amp AFCI breaker going to a GFCI receptacle. The customer bought a Samsung four-door 28 ft.³ refrigerator and about five minutes after plugging it in the GFCI tripped. I’ll spare the troubleshooting details if you’ll take my word that I’m confident enough in the field, and I have isolated the problem at the refrigerator itself. Samsung‘s guidance is use a non-GFCI receptacle. Obviously that creates a problem with the NEC and liability on my end, but I also find it negligent on their end to have a product leaking somewhere and their response is to find a way to hook it up in a way that ignores it. Am I thinking right here? I don’t think they will provide me with a way to stop the leak, so has anyone dealt with this? The breaker is not tripping at all, so I’m thinking most likely somewhere along the line. The neutral is coming in contact with the chassis of the refrigerator or something to that effect.
Curious what the resolution was to this? I was going to suggest trying an AFCI/GFCI combo breaker and a standard receptacle to see if that might be more immune to tripping from the inverter fridge.
 

PCBelarge

Member
Location
Westchester County NY
Occupation
Electrical Training and Consulting
I am interested to read more, but do not have the time. I will later.

The homeowner purchased the appliance. Have them reach out to the seller. Also contact UL, they want to hear about appliances that do not conform to the Standards and will take action if the manufacturer has a problem with the Standards. Should be interesting.
If the homeowner does not want to deal with it, your responsible for your company. Disconnect and document. Have the owner sign a waiver that you have disconnected the circuit. Otherwise you will have a potential lawsuit on your hands. Seems to me a new Fridge should be on order. Protect yourself is what seems to be the only answer at this point.
 

don_resqcapt19

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
retired electrician
I am interested to read more, but do not have the time. I will later.

The homeowner purchased the appliance. Have them reach out to the seller. Also contact UL, they want to hear about appliances that do not conform to the Standards and will take action if the manufacturer has a problem with the Standards. Should be interesting.
If the homeowner does not want to deal with it, your responsible for your company. Disconnect and document. Have the owner sign a waiver that you have disconnected the circuit. Otherwise you will have a potential lawsuit on your hands. Seems to me a new Fridge should be on order. Protect yourself is what seems to be the only answer at this point.
The biggest issue is that the product standards only address leakage current at 60 hZ and GFCIs are only tested at 60 hZ. Much of the new refrigeration equipment produces high frequency leakage current that can cause GFCIs to trip even below 4 mA.

While not the case, there are areas where the code has started to require hard wired equipment to have GFCI protection, but most of the product standards for hard wired equipment do not have a leakage current requirement as it is assumed that for hard wired equipment the code required equipment grounding conductor takes care of any safety issues associated with leakage current.

Legrand has a "sensitive appliance" GFCI receptacle that they say helps eliminate the issue from power conversion equipment used in refrigerators.
[/quote]Designed for dedicated use with large and/or stationary appliances, this GFCI outlet limits tripping caused from variable-speed drives[/quote]
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Occupation
EC
The biggest issue is that the product standards only address leakage current at 60 hZ and GFCIs are only tested at 60 hZ. Much of the new refrigeration equipment produces high frequency leakage current that can cause GFCIs to trip even below 4 mA.

While not the case, there are areas where the code has started to require hard wired equipment to have GFCI protection, but most of the product standards for hard wired equipment do not have a leakage current requirement as it is assumed that for hard wired equipment the code required equipment grounding conductor takes care of any safety issues associated with leakage current.

Legrand has a "sensitive appliance" GFCI receptacle that they say helps eliminate the issue from power conversion equipment used in refrigerators.
Designed for dedicated use with large and/or stationary appliances, this GFCI outlet limits tripping caused from variable-speed drives[/quote]
[/QUOTE]
I have run into issues with gas furnaces with variable speed blowers as well. Not for permanent wiring but in past have often told HVAC guy to just put a pigtail on it and plug it in and I will wire it up when I can. On new construction or certain locations where there may not be any non GFCI protected receptacles they end up calling me back telling me it won't stay on. They fire up the burner but trip GFCI as soon as the blower is called to run is what is happening.
 

winnie

Senior Member
Location
Springfield, MA, USA
Occupation
Electric motor research
That sensitive appliance GFCI looks like a good approach to try.

I also wonder if a ferrite ring ('bead') might help. On a minisplit I recently installed I noticed a ferrite on a green wire connecting to the EGC terminal.

Jon
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Occupation
EC
That sensitive appliance GFCI looks like a good approach to try.

I also wonder if a ferrite ring ('bead') might help. On a minisplit I recently installed I noticed a ferrite on a green wire connecting to the EGC terminal.

Jon
Wouldn't it work best if around the two supply conductors or even those plus the EGC instead of just the EGC only?
 

don_resqcapt19

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
retired electrician
That sensitive appliance GFCI looks like a good approach to try.

I also wonder if a ferrite ring ('bead') might help. On a minisplit I recently installed I noticed a ferrite on a green wire connecting to the EGC terminal.

Jon
Some have posted that those do work.
 
Curious what the resolution was to this? I was going to suggest trying an AFCI/GFCI combo breaker and a standard receptacle to see if that might be more immune to tripping from the inverter fridge.
Still waiting to go back. Are the GFCI breakers less sensitive than receptacles? I’m assuming if I do that it will still trip because the fridge is tripping all GFCIs we’ve plugged it into. I can definitely put in a dual function if they have a higher tolerance
 
Yes, GFCI's have neutral to ground fault protection built into them. Doesn't need to be any load current for it to work. The device injects a signal into the output, if there is a neutral to ground fault current makes its way back to the source and then out to the GFCI via supply side neutral completing a circuit - but this current is enough to unbalance the sense coil since it is only on one of the protected conductors so the normal GFCI functioning is what initiates the trip. If they did not have the signal injection feature then it wouldn't trip unless until enough load current flows to trip the GFCI.
Thanks for the reply, I know this about GFCIs, my question was rhetorical because the proposed solution was removing the GFCI because all code requires is an EGC and I was saying that if there is a true neutral to ground fault and we take away the GFCI, would just the presence of an EGC on an AFCI breaker stop a potentially dangerous situation that only the GFCIs seem to be catching right now. I know the answer is no, but also it’s probably not a neutral to ground issue and is the VFD everyone’s been talking about so probably ok for me to remove the GFCI. I’m just paranoid about liability.
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
Thanks for the reply, I know this about GFCIs, my question was rhetorical because the proposed solution was removing the GFCI because all code requires is an EGC and I was saying that if there is a true neutral to ground fault and we take away the GFCI, would just the presence of an EGC on an AFCI breaker stop a potentially dangerous situation that only the GFCIs seem to be catching right now. I know the answer is no, but also it’s probably not a neutral to ground issue and is the VFD everyone’s been talking about so probably ok for me to remove the GFCI. I’m just paranoid about liability.
No, it's not OK, to remove the GFCI protection if it is required. You would be liable.
Ask your lawyer.
 

Fred B

Senior Member
Location
Upstate, NY
Occupation
Electrician
Thanks for the reply, I know this about GFCIs, my question was rhetorical because the proposed solution was removing the GFCI because all code requires is an EGC and I was saying that if there is a true neutral to ground fault and we take away the GFCI, would just the presence of an EGC on an AFCI breaker stop a potentially dangerous situation that only the GFCIs seem to be catching right now. I know the answer is no, but also it’s probably not a neutral to ground issue and is the VFD everyone’s been talking about so probably ok for me to remove the GFCI. I’m just paranoid about liability.
No, it's not OK, to remove the GFCI protection if it is required. You would be liable.
Ask your lawyer.
Move the refrigerator into another room as a temp solution until resolution with MFG and GFCI can be made. Call MFG to complain and ask their solution.
 
No, it's not OK, to remove the GFCI protection if it is required. You would be liable.
Ask your lawyer.
The receptacle is far enough away from the sink to not need to be a GFCI. This whole dilemma is me saying that the fridge is close to the sink but the outlet is not. But the fridge is tripping GFCIs so even though we could get away with not having it plugged in to a GFCI is there some safety issue with the fridge that’s parked right next to the sink and would removing a GFCI cause a hazard to the homeowner. Or is there an abundance of information stating “no, it’s just an electronic issue with Samsung and therefore just stick to the NEC and everything will be fine”. I want to tell the homeowner it’s safe rather than just do my job and say anything that happens next is Samsung’s fault. That was the reason for this post.
 
I am interested to read more, but do not have the time. I will later.

The homeowner purchased the appliance. Have them reach out to the seller. Also contact UL, they want to hear about appliances that do not conform to the Standards and will take action if the manufacturer has a problem with the Standards. Should be interesting.
If the homeowner does not want to deal with it, your responsible for your company. Disconnect and document. Have the owner sign a waiver that you have disconnected the circuit. Otherwise you will have a potential lawsuit on your hands. Seems to me a new Fridge should be on order. Protect yourself is what seems to be the only answer at this point.
Wise advice. Thank you.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Occupation
EC
The home owner should
That is the whole problem with these incompatibilities coupled with the rules. The EC's end up being the one that eats costs trying to make customers happy. Even if the manufacturers offer free updates/ fixes/ replacements guess who puts in a whole bunch of time and never gets reimbursed for someone else's problem?
 

don_resqcapt19

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
retired electrician
Wouldn't it work best if around the two supply conductors or even those plus the EGC instead of just the EGC only?
Around the supply conductors is the only way I have installed them on sensitive industrial equipment. Sometimes the instructions specified more than one wrap around the ferrite ring. These were not related to a GFCI install, but to protect the equipment from spikes.
 

Fred B

Senior Member
Location
Upstate, NY
Occupation
Electrician
The receptacle is far enough away from the sink to not need to be a GFCI. This whole dilemma is me saying that the fridge is close to the sink but the outlet is not. But the fridge is tripping GFCIs so even though we could get away with not having it plugged in to a GFCI is there some safety issue with the fridge that’s parked right next to the sink and would removing a GFCI cause a hazard to the homeowner. Or is there an abundance of information stating “no, it’s just an electronic issue with Samsung and therefore just stick to the NEC and everything will be fine”. I want to tell the homeowner it’s safe rather than just do my job and say anything that happens next is Samsung’s fault. That was the reason for this post.
What code cycle you on? 2023 you loose that allowance for if you are not within 6 ft or counter top. 2023 simply states all receptacles in a kitchen, 150V or less to ground, must have GFCI protection, in addition to the 6ft rule.
 

wwhitney

Senior Member
Location
Berkeley, CA
Occupation
Retired
Around the supply conductors is the only way I have installed them on sensitive industrial equipment. Sometimes the instructions specified more than one wrap around the ferrite ring. These were not related to a GFCI install, but to protect the equipment from spikes.
But in this case, if the issue is high frequency current noise on the EGC, and if a ferrite ring works by increasing the impedance at high frequency, while maintaining a low impedance at 60 Hz, then putting them on the EGC makes sense to me.

Cheers, Wayne
 

winnie

Senior Member
Location
Springfield, MA, USA
Occupation
Electric motor research
But in this case, if the issue is high frequency current noise on the EGC, and if a ferrite ring works by increasing the impedance at high frequency, while maintaining a low impedance at 60 Hz, then putting them on the EGC makes sense to me.

Cheers, Wayne

The GFCI isn't measuring current on the EGC, but rather net current on the supply lines. Of course any capacitive leakage is ending up on the EGC or another path back to the transformer.

Jon
 
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